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Grade V

Climbs that are difficult, sustained and generally serious. On ice climbs long, steep and sustained pitches are to be expected. Buttresses require winter techniques such as axe hooking and torquing, combined with competent rock-climbing ability.

Grade VI

Ice climbs have long vertical sections or are thin and tenuous. Buttress climbs include everything in Grade V, but there is more of it.

Grade VII

Usually buttress or face routes that are very sustained or technically extreme. If ice is involved, it is extremely steep and/or thin.

Grade VIII and above

Very hard and sustained mixed routes. By the time you are considering this sort of grade, you should have a fair idea what is involved.

The technical grades, which are given by the Arabic number, are based on the technical difficulty found on ice routes of Grades III, IV and V. The Roman number indicates the overall difficulty of leading the route, taking into account the seriousness, technical problems, protection, route finding, sustained nature, etc. The system is similar to the way adjectival and technical grades are used to grade rock climbs. In this way a V,4 would be a technically easy but serious Grade V route, probably on ice; V,5 would be a classic ice route with adequate protection; V,6 likely to be a classic buttress route – harder but better protected than a V ice route: V,7 would be a technically very difficult climb but with a short crux and good protection. It is unlikely that the technical grade will vary by more than two from the overall grade.