ChalkaholicsClimbing knowledge
Researched articles on climbing grades, training and health — with named sources and without claims nobody can back up.
Last updated: 27 July 2026
This is where articles are written about the questions that keep coming up in climbing. Every number and every statement comes from a named source listed underneath the article — none of it is estimated or claimed from experience. Where the research is thin, or where sources contradict each other, that is stated explicitly.
Climbing grades
Where the scales come from, where they differ and what a number really tells you about a route.
Overview
Climbing grades explained
UIAA, French, YDS, Fontainebleau and the V scale: origins, differences and why every conversion stays an approximation.
Bouldering
Bouldering grades explained
The Fontainebleau and V scales: origins, structure, the mix-up between 7A and 7a — and why gym grades are a calculation of their own.
Roped climbing
The UIAA scale
The oldest of the five scales: from Benesch in 1894 via Welzenbach to the UIAA — and why the sixth grade was meant to be the end.
Roped climbing
The French scale
Number, letter, plus — why there is no minus, why 6a and 6A are different scales, and what F, PD and AD have to do with it.
Roped climbing
Yosemite Decimal System
Why 5.10 is harder than 5.9, what classes 1 to 5 mean and why the scale is named after the wrong area.
Terms
Onsight, flash and redpoint
What the ascent styles mean exactly, where the red dot comes from and why three separate numbers say more than one.
Would you rather just calculate?
Several of these topics have a calculator that answers the question directly — converting climbing grades, the ape index, hangboard loads or the ascents you need for your target grade.