Additional Ski Grading Information
- by Peter Gumplinger and Michael Feller
Prompted by a wide range of ratings given by different people for
the same trip, and the realization that if we graded ski trips like
climbing trips (according to the most difficult section) then most
of our ski trips would be class 3, some modifications were made
to the grading system. These modifications are reflected in
the table below.
Guidelines:
- Trips used as benchmarks for their rating are marked with an
asterisk.
- When an area rather than a specific mountain is given, the
standard rating can vary depending on precisely what is skied.
- Non standard ski routes can have quite different ratings to
those given for the standard routes.
The two major modifications to the basic rating system are as
follows:
When a trip consists primarily of one degree of difficulty with
a small amount of the next degree of difficulty skiing, this is
indicated by separating the two levels by a slash, putting the dominant
one first. Thus 2/3 indicates a trip primarily of difficulty
2 with a small amount of 3.
Sometimes the final climb to the summit is more difficult than
the ski up to it. In this case the final climb rating (for
an ascent on foot) is given in brackets after the ski rating.
Thus 3(4) indicates a ski trip of difficulty 3 with a final summit
climb rated 4 (easy climbing with belaying required for average
parties). |
