The Invisible Influence of Grades

Many of us don’t like to admit it, but we have a strong emotional connection to grades. On one hand, we want to keep improving year after year, and grades are the closest thing to an objective measurement we have. On the other hand, climbing feels like something we do for “the love of the the game.” To put too much emphasis on grades feels like a dispassionate approach to the sport we love. This dichotomy can make it hard to openly talk about our relationship with grades. Without allowing ourselves the space to reflect, we develop invisible grade barriers that end up holding us back and leading to a lot of frustration. 

As we advance in climbing, we eventually run into these invisible barriers we unknowingly placed. Certain grades held specific meaning to us early on and we internalized those beliefs without realizing it.

I’ve worked with climbers who have become more than strong, fit, and technical enough to climb their lifetime goals, but because of some connection they had to that grade, they struggled to feel like they would ever be prepared enough to even attempt it.

We all create narratives around grades. Here are a couple of things to look out for in your own climbing:

• Do you say things like, “I’ve gotten to the point where I can consistently climb a lot of V7’s, but V8 still feels impossible,”?

• Did everyone that you started climbing around all get to a specific grade and then plateau? Did you also get to that same grade +/- 1 and suddenly feel stuck?

• If you’ve been climbing for 15+ years, have you updated your idea of what “hard” climbing is? In 2005, 5.14 would land you in a magazine, now it’ll just land you in a lineup with five other weekend warriors for your project.

• Do you feel like focusing on grades is an inauthentic way to pursue climbing?

• How long has it been since you’ve updated your personal standard for what a “hard send” is? Maybe V6 was a high level achievement for you once. Are you selling yourself short by settling for that when you could climb harder if you had more belief in yourself? 

• Are you giving too much reverence to the “big grades” like V10 or 5.14? Have you put it on such a high pedestal that it’s placed out of reach?

• Are you busy chasing the higher grades that you used to climb rather than focusing on where you’re at right now? What if you spent a year climbing the grades that you’re currently fit for? Would that get you back to where you want to be faster than chasing the place you feel you’re “supposed” to be at?

Grades can be so polarizing that many of us avoid discussing the topic entirely. This doesn’t make us free of their influence though. All that it does is lessen our ability to talk about and process their effect. Take some time to reflect on where you are at right now. Are the grades you’re stuck at actually your limit, or have you just convinced yourself that they are?