Trips are graded with a letter and a number to indicate the standards of fitness and technical competence required. The grades indicated are subjective by nature. An easy trip for one person may be arduous for another.
Degree of Strenuousness
A Easy - Less than 4 hours travel on any one day
B Moderate - 4 to 8 hours travel on any one day
C Strenuous - 8-12 hours travel on any one day
D Extreme - More than 12 hours travel on any one day
Technical Difficulty - Hiking and Climbing Trips
Class 1 Groomed hiking trails
Class 2 Hiking - Some scrambling off trail; occasional use of hands
Class 3 Scrambling - Beginners may use rope if exposed.
Class 4 Easy climbing - Continual belaying required for average parties.
Class 5 Climbing - Climbing hardware required for protection.
Class 6 Aid Climbing - Climbing hardware required for direct assistance.
Exposure will increase the apparent difficulty for inexperienced people.
Technical Difficulty - Ski and SnowshoeTrips
1 Gentle slopes (skiing: up to 10 degrees). Not demanding - a casual stroll.
2 Moderate slopes (skiing: up to 20 degrees). Intermediate difficulty.
3 Steep terrain (skiing: up to 35 degrees) and/or difficult glacier travel. Advanced difficulty.
4 Very steep, rugged terrain (skiing: up to 50 degrees). Possible use of ropes and/or ice axe. Advanced difficulty.
5 High angle and/or high exposure. Extreme!
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.
Two major modifications to the basic rating system are as:
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).
Table of Example Trips with Ratings
| Destination | Rating |
Day Trips |
|
| Alice (Cheekye) Ridge | B2 |
| Mt. Baker Area / Herman's Saddle / Table Mtn. | A2-B2 |
| Brandywine Mtn. | C2/3 |
| Mt. Brew | B2/3 |
| Brohm Ridge | B2 |
| Cheam Peak | B3 |
| Cloudburst Mtn. | C3 |
| Cypress Peak | C3 |
| Diamond Head Area | A1-B2 |
| Fat Dog Creek / Cambie Creek | A1-B2 |
| Heliotrope Ridge | B2 |
| Hollyburn Mtn. | A2 |
| Mt. Jimmy Jimmy* | C3 |
| Mt. Laughington | B2 |
| Magnesia Meadows | B2 |
| Metal Dome | B2 |
| Needle Peak | B2/3(4) |
| Needle Peak Area* | B2/3 |
| Panorama Ridge | B3 |
| Poland Lake Area | A1 |
| Mt. Price | C3 |
| Rainbow Lake Area | B2 |
| Rainbow Mtn.* | C3 |
| Mt. Rohr | C2/3 |
| Ruth Mtn. | B3 |
| Mt. Seymour (Brockton Point) | A2 |
| Sigurd Lake | C3 |
| Silverdaisy Mtn. | B2 |
| Singing Pass Area | B2 |
| Mt. Sproatt | B2/3 |
| Three Brothers Mtn. | B-C2 |
| Tomyhoi Peak | C3 |
| Tricouni Meadows | B2 |
| Tricouni Peak | C3(4) |
| Windy Joe Mtn. | A1/2 |
| Mt. Webb | C3 |
| Zoa Peak* | A2 |
Weekend Trips |
|
| Aspen Peak (Mt. Marriot) Area | B3 |
| Aspen Peak | C3 |
| Mt. Athelstan | C3(4) |
| Mt. Baker (Coleman Glacier) | B-C3 |
| Mt. Baker (south side) | B-C3 |
| Black Tusk Area / Taylor Meadows | B3 |
| Brandywine Mtn. | B3 |
| Mt. Breakenridge | B3 |
| Mt. Brew | B2/3 |
| Mt. Callaghan | B3 |
| Capricorn Mtn.* | C3 |
| Mt. Carr | B3 |
| Caspar Peak / Caspar Creek Area | B3 |
| Cayoosh Mtn.* | B3 |
| Cerise Creek Area | B2 |
| Cloudraker Mtn. | C3 |
| Cypress Peak | B3 |
| Diamond Head / Elfin Lakes | A1-B2 |
| Mt. Duke | B3 |
| Fat Dog Creek / Cambie Creek | B2 |
| Frosty Mtn. (via Windy Joe Mtn.) | B2 |
| Garibaldi Lake (near area) | B2/3 |
| Mt. Garibaldi (Brohm Ridge) | B3(4) |
| Mt. Garibaldi (Diamond Head) | C-D3(4) |
| Garibaldi Névé Traverse | C3 |
| International Peak (Mt. Rahm) | B3/4 |
| Ipsoot Mtn.* | C3 |
| Mt. Jimmy Jimmy | B3 |
| Mamquam Mtn. | C3 |
| Mt. Matier | B3(4) |
| Mt. Outram | B3 |
| Place Glacier Area | B-C3 |
| Mt. Price | B3 |
| Railroad Pass Area / Face Mtn. | B3 |
| Rainbow Mtn. | B2 |
| Rhododendron Mtn. | C3 |
| Ring Mtn. | B2/3 |
| Mt. Rohr* | B2/3 |
| Saxifrage Mtn. / Cassiope Mtn. | B3 |
| Mt. Sedgwick | C3 |
| Mt. Shuksan (Sulfide Glacier) | B3(4) |
| Silver Star Mtn. | B3(4) |
| Singing Pass | B2 |
| Snowspider Mtn. | C3 |
| Mt. Sproatt / Gin & Tonic Lakes | B2 |
| The Sphinx | C3 |
| Tetrahedron Plateau | A1-B3 |
| Three Brothers Area/Crossover | B2 |
| Wedgemount Lake Area/Peaks | C3/4 |
Long-Weekend Trips |
|
| Mt. Adams / Mt. St. Helens | C3 |
| Lizzie Lake Area | B3 |
| North Creek Cabin* | B3 |
| Overseer Mtn. | C3 |
| Place Glacier Area | B3 |
| Powdercap Traverse | B2/3 |
| Spearhead Traverse* | C3 |