Grading Trips

How we grade our trips?

We are unable to use a definitive grading system that answers everybody's questions regarding how technical and physically demanding our trips are. However we do our utmost to give you a graded overview of what each trip entails technically and physically. Do not hesitate to contact us by phone or email if you have any specific queries.

All of our expeditions require different levels of experience but many can be done by fit and adventerous people with little if no alpine experience. The most essential prerequsite is that you are fit, healthy and that you have the right mental attitude. You will find that on some of our mountaineering expeditions previous alpine or Scottish winter climbing experience will be of great benefit. As a bench mark guide you can assume that any climb over 5000m needs a high standard of fitness and any climb over 6,000m is particularly demanding.

We use a two tiered grading system to give you the overall level of technical difficulty and fitness required for our trekking and mountaineering trips. A number will indicate the technical difficulty of the trip and a letter will indicate the level of fitness required.

Trekking and Mountaineering grades

Difficulty

Our numerical grade indicates the hardest technical difficulty that will be encountered on your chosen route. The higher the grade the more extensive your previous experience needs to be.

Fitness

Our alphabetical grade is an indication of the overal level of fitnss you need to bring onto the trip.
1. Walking or scrambling over easy rock or snow. No previous experience of climbing is required and we don't expect to use ropes. A. A sound fitness base. You should be able to hike to the summit of Snowdon with no undue difficulty carrying a day sack of up to 10kg,
2. Routes that entail the use of walking crampons and ice axe as a minimum. Routes may also encompass entail glacier travel or short sections of steep ice requiring roped travel and perhaps some easy scrambling. Previous roped climbing experience/self arrest techniques is desirable but not essential. B. Above average fitness base is needed with regular aerobic training. You should be able to hike for week in the UK wth no undue difficulty. You may use expedition rucksacks of up to 20kg may be carried for moderate distances at reasonable altitudes. Long days of up to 10 hours requiring some degree of determination.
3. Ice or rock routes where where two tools may be necessary on occasions with roped rock climbing to Scottish II or Alpine PD. Previous climbing experience is essential. C. A very high level of fitness is required. You should be an experienced UK hiker/climber. You may use expedition rucksacks of up to 25 kg for several days, often uphill at high altitude. Long 10+ hour days on occasions requring a high degree of determination
4. More difficult or more continuous climbing to Scottish grade III or Alpine AD standard. Extensive Scottish/Alpine experience is required. D. An exceptional level of fitness is required. You should be a highly experienced hiker/climber at a high standard. You may use expedition rucksacks of up to 30kg for extensive periods of time. Long 10+ hour days on a regular basis requring exceptional determination.
5. Highly technical climbing requiring considerable competence from the client. Rock climbing to HVS/E1 or ice to Scottish grade IV. E. You can beat Chris Hoy in a bike race, catch bullets in your teeth and are able to carry a small building on your back ...indefinitely! You should have a name tag that says 'Hello my name is Ranulph Fiennes'.

Comparisons

As a rough guide for those who have climbed elsewhere in the world the following peaks would be graded by us as follows.

West Highland Way 1A

Everest Base Camp 1A

Kilimanjaro 1B

Mt. Blanc 2B

Denali 3C

Matterhorn 4C