Technical ratings and other Abbreviations

Various types of abbreviations are used in these pages:

technical ratings for summer outings
climbing ratings
technical ratings of skiing tours
abbreviations in names of places and descriptions

Some technical terms are translated in this table.

Summer outings

Valais and Mt Blanc

In most of the Valais and in the Mt Blanc area, a rating system is used which takes mostly the technical difficulties into account but also the level of exposure, the possibilities to secure and the ease to find the way. Vallot ratings in the Mt Blanc area tend to be more severe than those from the CAS for the Valais, which in turn are more severe than the CAS ratings for the Bernina area. CAS ratings for the Vaud (Diablerets area), in contrast, are misleadingly shy. Appreciation of difficulties is also a matter of personal experience: if one is used to PD on the Valais glaciers, then PD in Chamonix granite is likely to feel more difficult.

P: Piéton: good trail, roads. Good shoes recommended.
Example: Reculet normal way.
PE or R: Piéton Expérimenté or Randonneur: partially no trail or trail along slopes.
Examples: Jura outside the trails, Cornettes de la Bise via Serauquin.
RE or TF: Randonneur Expérimenté or Très Facile: steep grass fields, snow fields. Usually no trail. Can include rocky passages of I-II, and also an equiped rappel.
Examples: Vanil Noir from Flendruz, Haute Cîme des Dents du Midi normal way.
F or L or REA: Facile or Leicht or Randonneur Expérimenté Alpin: Start of the Alpine scale, lowest rating for glaciers. A rope may be used at times also in rocks. Easy climbing (I, occasionally II), gentle glacier with slopes up to around 30°.
Examples: Wildhorn, Bishorn, Mt Blanc from the ref du Goûter.
PD or WS: Peu Difficile or Wenig Schwierig: Climbing passages are typically rated II, and there may also be sections of III. Securing techniques required. Glaciers are cracked and snow slopes are typically up to 35°-40°, rarely steeper. Crampons and ice axe needed. Tours at this level of difficulty are usually still accessible to accompanied people in good physical shape without much alpine experience.
Examples: Gr Paradiso, Mt Blanc de Tacul, Weißmies.
AD or ZS: Assez Difficile or Ziemlich Schwierig: Climbing passages are up to III, with sections of IV. Slings, wedges etc. may be needed for securing in rocks. Snow and ice slopes are 40°-45°, short passages also 50°.
Examples: Matterhorn via the Hörnligrat, Weißhorn normal way, Dent Blanche via the Wandfluhgrat.
D or S: Difficile or Schwierig: Rock parts are typically rated IV but there may also be sections of V. One may have to bring substantial climbing equipment. Snow and ice will occasionally exceed 55°.
Examples: Lenzspitze NE face
TD or SS: Très Difficile or Sehr Schwierig
ED: Extrêmement Difficile
EX or ABO: Exceptionellement Difficile or Abominable

The rating Facile is somewhat misleading: P to RE come from a "walking" scale, while F and up are from the "Alpine" scale. As a result, Facile usually requires more skills than Randonneur Expérimenté.

Bern

In the Bern area, a scale of overall appreciation of a tour is used which goes from G1 to G20 and up. Examples are:

G1: Rohrbachstein, Oberaletschhütte
G2: Bishorn normal way, Strahlhorn from Britanniahütte, Wildhorn from Wildhornhütte, Wildstrubel from Lämmernhütte
G3: Finsteraarhorn VN (G3-4), Mönch SW ridge
G4: Aletschhorn from Oberaletschhütte, Eiger W face, Großes Grünhorn via W face (G4-5)
G5: Jungfrau via Rottalgrat, Eiger via Mitteleggigrat, Matterhorn via Hörnligrat
G6: Matterhorn via Liongrat
G7: Gr Cornier SW ridge
...
G14: Eiger N face 1938 route
G15-G20: other Eiger N face routes

The examples give ratings for summer outings, not for skiing tours.

Rock climbing rating

Almost every country has its own scale to rate climbing difficulties. Best known are probably the UIAA scale, the French scale and the Yosemite decimal system (YDS). Their correspondence is debated, although several attempts have been made. These ratings all apply mainly to the technical aspects of climbing, and say little about how exposed a route is.

The UIAA free climbing scale is used to indicate the technical difficulties of rock climbing without artificial aids:

I
Few difficulties, hands needed to keep equilibrium. Securing for people not used to climbing.
II
Start of climbing, usually 3 points of contact with the rock.
III
Requires securing for all but well trained climbers. Can be vertical and even overhanging if there are good grips and stands.
IV
Requires good climibing experience, intermediate securing also for trained climbers.
V-X
More and more élégant, as the Vallot guides would say ...
The UIAA artificial climbing scale is an indication of the technical difficulties in routes where artificial aids are used:

A0
Use of pitons that are already in place and placing slings to climb some passages.
A1
Pitons, hooks, wedges etc are relatively easy to put in place. Occasional use of a ladder. Does not yet require much force.
A2-A4
Gradually larger and larger difficulties preparing a passage.
The "French" climbing scale is getting increasingly popular in the French and Swiss Alps for climbs on technically difficult, well prepared walls that are quick to reach. The scale is not well adapted to easy mountain routes. Goes from the little used 1, 2, 3 which more or less correspond with UIAA I-III, to 4, 4+, 5a, 5b, 6a, 6b, 6c, 7a, 7b, 7c, 8a, 8b, 8c and up with fine adjustments that appear as a "+" or a "-" suffix. The rating 4 on this scale corresponds more or less with the UIAA rating V - but there are considerable regional variations.

Skiing tours

Various technical rating systems are used in the Mt Blanc area and the Valais. The equivalence between the UIAA inspired F, PD, ... scale and the Blachère scale SM, BS, BSA ... is approximate. The letter A in the latter scale indicates that there are climbing sections or that glaciers are to be traversed.

F or SM: Facile or Skieur Moyen: broad slopes, rarely exceeding 30°-35°.
Examples: Mts Telliers
PD or BS: Peu Difficile or Bon Skieur:
Examples: Mt Vélan, Tête Pelouse, les Trois Cols (PD+)
AD or TBS/BSA: Assez Difficile or Bon Skieur Alpiniste:
Examples:
D or ESA/TBSA: Difficile or Très Bon Skieur Alpiniste: slopes over 45°, exposed.
Examples: Col de Belvédère
TD: Très Difficile or Excellent Skieur Alpiniste: start of the "extreme" domain of skiing.
ED: Extrèmement Difficule

Some guide books indicate the inclination separately with a numeric scale:

S1: roads (like "green" pistes)
S2: gentle sloes (like "blue" and "red" skiing pistes)
S3: broad slopes up to 35° (this is the inclination of the steepest parts of "black" pistes)
S4: broad slopes up to 45° if not too exposed, 35°-40° in narrow passages, stopping a slide after a fall in such slopes requires considerable skills
S5: 45°-55° in little exposed couloirs, 40°-50° if exposed
S6: above 50° if very exposed, otherwise above 55°
S7: above 60° or with jumps

The G-scale is used also for skiing tours in the Bern area.

Other abbreviations

Aig: Aiguille
A/R: Back and forth over the same trail
Biv: Bivouac, usually an unguarded shelter that offers sleeping places but little else. Swiss bivouacs are usually equiped with blankets.
CAAI: Italian Academic Alpine Club
CAAS or SAAC: Swiss Academic Alpine Club
Cab: Guarded hut (in Switzerland)
CAF: Club Alpin Français, French Alpine Club
CAI: Italian Alpine Club
CAS or SAC: Swiss Alpine Club (section Genève, Délémont, Basel)
CAS n: Route number according to the CAS guide books
CBC n: Route number according to Les 100 plus Belles Courses, a series of books edited originally by Gaston Rébuffat each listing 100 interesting tours in a given area, tour 1 is the easiest and tour 100 is the hardest.
Ch: Châlet
CNS n: Swiss national map, produced by the Swiss Federal Office of Topography, 3084 Wabern. The 4-digit numbers refer to the 1:25.000 series, 3-digit numbers to the 1:50.000 maps. The nnn T maps are on a 1:50.000 scale and have summer routes printed on top, while the nnn S maps have skiing routes.
Cr: Crête
Dt: Dent
E: East
Gr: Grand
IGC: Istituto Geografico Centrale, producing (astonishingly bad) Italian maps
IGM: Istituto Geografico Militare Italiano, producing (hard to find) Italian maps
IGN: Institut Géographique National, producing the French reference maps, usually on a 1:25.000 scale. The Didier Richard maps (on a 1:50.000 scale) are based on the IGN maps but have footpaths and other touristic information printed on top. Printed on less enduring paper than the IGN maps and usually lagging a bit behind the IGN maps in terms of updates.
km: kilometer
K&F: Kuemmerli & Frey Wanderbücher
Labande: Information from the guide books written by François Labande: Ski de Randonnée Ouest Suisse, Valais Central, Haut Valais, Mont Blanc, Randonnée Alpine, Haute Savoie & Suisse Romande, Editions Olizane (Genève).
m: meter
Mt: Mont
N: North
P: A point on a map of which the altitude is known, but which does not have a name.
Pl: Plan
Pt: Petit
Pte: Pointe
R: In trail descriptions, reverse of direction described in guide book
Ref: Refuge, usually guarded French hut or unguarded Swiss hut
Rif: Rifugio, usually guarded Italian hut
S: South
St: Saint
SMB: Route number according to Sommets du Mont Blanc, les plus belles courses, by Jean-Louis Laroche and Florence Lelong, a book illustrated with superb photos, describing 57 tours ranging in difficulty from F to D (not in a strict order).
TMB: Tour du Mont Blanc, a round tour around the massif du Mt Blanc
UIAA: Union Internationale des Associations d'Alpinisme, international federation of mountaineering clubs
V n: Route number according to the Vallot guide books.
VN: Voie Normale, usually the safest and easiest way up
W: West

Last updated on 16/11/01. To my main page.