Yosemite Decimal System

Camp 4 is a campground in Yosemite National Park. This campgroup became well know after World War II, because rock climbers would hangout there for months (not necessarlily legally).

Camp 4 was the center of rock climbing during the middle of the 20th century. Some of the most famous climbers would go to Camp 4 and learn from others and try out ideas on the Yosemite walls.

One such climber, Yvon Chouinard, made and sold climbing gear out of the parking lot at Camp 4, which started a great foundation to a successful business later in life.

The system was initially developed as the Sierra Club grading system in the 1930s to classify hikes and climbs in Sierra, Nevada.

The Sierra Club was started in 1829 by John Muir. The club works to protect communities, wild places, and the planet. The Sierra Club is now one of the largest and most influential environmental organization in the United States.

Fun Fact:

John Muir appears on the back of the California quarter.

The system divides all hikes and climbs into five classes:

• Class 1: Walking with a low chance of injury.

• Class 2: Simple scrambling, with the possibility of occasional use of the hands. Little potential danger is encountered.

• Class 3: Scrambling with increased exposure. A rope can be carried but is usually not required. Falls are not always fatal.

• Class 4: Simple climbing, with exposure. A rope is often used. Natural protection can be easily found. Falls may well be fatal.

• Class 5: Technical free climbing involving rope, belaying, and other protection hardware for safety. Un-roped falls can result in severe injury or death.

Class five was subdivided in 1950. At that time it ranged from a 5.0, which was moderately difficult to a 5.9, which at that time was said to be the most difficult climb that was humanly possible. We now know differently.

Increased standards and improved equipment meant that class 5.9 climbs in the 1960s became not as difficult for many climbers. Rather than reclassify all climbs each time standards improved, additional classes were added. It soon became apparent that an open-ended system was needed and further classes of 5.11, 5.12, etc. were added. It was later determined that the 5.11 climb was much harder than 5.10, leaving many climbs of varying difficulty bunched up at 5.10. To solve this, the scale has been further subdivided above the 5.9 mark with suffixes from "a" to "d".

Our scale currently ranges from a 5.0 to a 5.15c. But this could change at any minute.

5.6 Top Rope Climb

5.7 Lead Climb

5.7 Slab Climb

West Virginia Climbing

5.11

5.6

Climbing in New Hampshire

5.4

5.1

New York Climbing

5.5 Lead

5.0 Lead

Anyone Can Climb

Bibliography

(http://www.sierraclub.org)

Yosemite Decimal System

(http://www.sierraclub.org)

Some history behind climbing in the Yosemite Valley.

("When Nature Becomes Culture: The National Register and Yosemite's Camp 4")

Indoor Climbing

Lead Climbing: This is when a climber accends a route, placing or clipping protection. All while climbing without the protection of a top rope.

("When Nature Becomes Culture: The National Register and Yosemite's Camp 4")

Reeds Creek and Seneca Rocks, West Virginia

(http://climber.org)

Now about the system

(http://en.wikipedia.org)

Rumney, New Hampshire

The Shawangunk Ridge, New York

"Welcome to the Sierra Club." Sierra Club Home Page: Explore, Enjoy and Protect the Planet. Web. 13 Dec. 2011. <http://www.sierraclub.org/welcome/>.

" The Yosemite Decimal System ." Climber.Org Home Page. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2011. <http://climber.org/data/decimal.html>.

"Yosemite Decimal System - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yosemite_Decimal_System>.

Kirk, Andrew, and Charles Palmer. "When Nature Becomes Culture: The National Register and Yosemite's Camp 4." Western Historical Quarterly Fall 2006. Print.