ShaneButler.com

I may have mentioned before that I love to go rock climbing. I have only done it indoors at this point but I am excited to go outdoors once it thaws a little here in Northern Utah. I started climbing when my beautiful wife got me some lessons for my 35th birthday while we lived in New Zealand.

Now, there are several ways of rating the difficulty of the climb and I have often wondered how the climbs I did New Zealand compared with those I've done in Salt Lake City. Sooo, I was pleased to find this comparison chart on WikiPedia today and will show it here so others can easily compare and so I can too. :-)

If you haven't tried climbing yet I highly recommend it. Even if you are a little afraid of heights. (I am too.)
Just start out in a climbing gym or with someone who is very good at climbing safely.

Free climbing ratings comparison table

A comparison chart for some of the free climbing rating systems in use around the world:

Free Climbing Grading Systems
YDS (USA)	British Tech/Adj		French	UIAA	Saxon	Ewbank (Australia, NZ & South Africa)	Finnish	Norwegian	Brazilian
5.2			1	I	I				Isup
5.3			2	II	II	11			II
5.4			3	III	III	12		3	IIsup
5.5	4a	VD	4	IV	IV	12		4	III
5.6		S	5a	V+	V	13	5−	5−	IIIsup
5.7	4b	HS	5b	VI-	VI	14	5	5	IV
	4c					15
5.8		VS	5c	VI	VIIa	16	5+	5+	IVsup
5.9	5a	HVS	6a	VI+	VIIb	17		6−	V
5.10a		E1	6a+	VII-	VIIc	18	6−	6−/6	VI
5.10b	5b		6b	VII		19		6	VI/VI+
5.10c		E2	6b+	VII+	VIIIa	20	6	6+	VIsup/VI+
5.10d	5c		6c		VIIIb	21		7-	VIsup
5.11a		E3	6c+	VIII−	VIIIc	22	6+	7	7a
5.11b			6c+	VIII-		23			7b
5.11c	6a	E4	7a	VIII	IXa	24	7−	7+	7c
5.11d			7a	VIII	IXb				7c
5.12a		E5	7a+	VIII+	IXc	25	7+	7+/8−	8a
5.12b	6b		7b			26	8−	8-	8b
5.12c		E6	7b+	IX−	Xa	27	8	8	8c
5.12d	6c		7c	IX	Xb	28	8+	8/8+	9a
5.13a		E7	7c+	IX+	Xc	29	9−	8+	9b
5.13b			8a				9	9-	9c
5.13c	7a		8a+	X−		30	9+	9−/9	10a
5.13d		E8	8b	X		31	10−	9	10b
5.14a			8b+	X+		32	10	9/9+	10c
5.14b	7b		8c			33	10+	9+	11a
5.14c		E9	8c+	XI−		34	11−	10−	11b
5.14d	7c		9a	XI		35	11	10	11c
5.15a			9a+	XI+				10+	12a
5.15b			9b						12b