Mountain Project Logo

Number of climbers currently at each grade

Original Post
AJS · · Boulder, CO · Joined Mar 2008 · Points: 25

Was trying to explain to a friend how the climbing grades differed and I threw these numbers out as the number of people currently climbing at each grade:

5.14 - probably about 100-200 people
5.13 - maybe 1000
5.12 - ~5000
5.11 - 10,000
5.10 - 50,000
5.9 - ???

that was just off the top of my head...anyone else have some estimates?

I think my numbers are probably pretty low...

-Adam

Buff Johnson · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Dec 2005 · Points: 1,145

Lee Smith is still in the 9th grade.
I made it to the 6th.

pretty much most of Boulder is either pre-school or 2nd

Jay Knower · · Plymouth, NH; Lander, WY · Joined Jul 2001 · Points: 6,131
John Langston wrote: To my knowledge there are no 5.14 OW's. The only 5.13 I know of is Bellyful but I can think of several other 12d's.
Didn't Leavitt and Yaniro find some offwidth in a ceiling of a parking garage somewhere in So Cal? I think they said that it was the hardest OW in the world.
Keegan · · San Francisco, Ca · Joined Apr 2007 · Points: 60

One move wonder? 10a? You sure are down playing Crumbling Reality aren't ya John.

sean connors · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Jul 2005 · Points: 150
John Langston wrote: The only 5.13 I know of is Bellyful but I can think of several other 12d's.
What does For Turkeys Only got at?
Evan S · · Denver, Co · Joined Dec 2007 · Points: 510

It's pretty safe to say more than 1000 people can climb 5.13, I'm not one of them by any means, but little European children solo 5.12 in clogs, so just take that into account.

Jay Knower · · Plymouth, NH; Lander, WY · Joined Jul 2001 · Points: 6,131
John Langston wrote: By no means have I ever heard it's the hardest. A parallel roof splitter (concrete or rock) roof in the OW size is pretty much 12a.
Did you just downgrade the parking garage crack? I think you did. What would Yaniro and Leavitt say about that?

It might not be the hardest in the world, but 12a? That seems pretty low.
James Beissel · · Boulder, CO · Joined Aug 2004 · Points: 905
John Langston wrote:A parallel roof splitter (concrete or rock) roof in the OW size is pretty much 12a.
You mean 5.9
Jay Knower · · Plymouth, NH; Lander, WY · Joined Jul 2001 · Points: 6,131
James Beissel wrote: You mean 5.9
This is getting out of hand.
Buff Johnson · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Dec 2005 · Points: 1,145

I can more than likely get it at 5-2

Jay Knower · · Plymouth, NH; Lander, WY · Joined Jul 2001 · Points: 6,131

There's an OW in the east that's supposed to be 13ish. Bulletproof at Farley Ledge. I tried it once: 4+ inches, very overhanging, angling and slightly offset. I did a few of those kick-throughs I had been hearing so much about. Very hard, but John would probably call it 12a.

eliclimbs · · Boulder, CO · Joined Jan 2008 · Points: 35

I won't speculate on the total quantity, but I think percentiles are about...

40 percentile = 5.10 (so 6 of 10)

70 percentile = 5.11 (so 3 of 10)

85 percentile = 5.12

95 percentile = 5.13 (1 of 20)

99.8 percentile = 5.14 (1 of 500)

  • percentiles for sport redpoint. And of course this depends on the pool of people.

Eli

Eli
Buff Johnson · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Dec 2005 · Points: 1,145

unless it's onsight on all mediums of climbing types, it doesn't count.

Tony B · · Around Boulder, CO · Joined Jan 2001 · Points: 24,691
James Beissel wrote: You mean 5.9
He meant 5.9 "+" (snicker)
In the classical sense.

Which is ta say, somewehre between 5.11 and 5.14.
Steve Pulver · · Williston, ND · Joined Dec 2003 · Points: 460

I downloaded the partner database from some web site, don't remember if it was mountainproject or rockclimbing.com, like a year ago into excel, and (assuming if you are looking for a 5.13 partner you can climb 5.13) came up with:

1.3% climbed 5.13a
12% climbed 5.12a
38% climbed 5.11a
70% climbed 5.10a
82% climbed 5.9
90% climbed 5.8
98% climbed 5.7

the % at any given grade includes the people that can climb a harder grade (probably obvious). Sample size was 650 people. There wasn't anyone looking for a 5.14 partner. I threw out people that were looking for 5.1 partners, and the remaining 2% that were below 5.7 might be garbage also, but left them in. The 50th percentile was at 5.10c.

AJS · · Boulder, CO · Joined Mar 2008 · Points: 25

Alright, offwidths not withstanding (or is that 'width'standing?) and using Eli's numbers, let's assume that there are 200,000 climbers in the world*

eliclimbs wrote:40 percentile = 5.10 (so 6 of 10) 70 percentile = 5.11 (so 3 of 10) 85 percentile = 5.12 95 percentile = 5.13 (1 of 20) 99.8 percentile = 5.14 (1 of 500)
that gives:

5.10 - 120,000
5.11 - 60,000
5:12 - 30,000
5:13 - 10,000
5:14 - 400

  • - the population of Boulder is about 80,000 so that only leaves 120,000 people outside of Boulder who can climb...seems about right (kidding) :-)
Buff Johnson · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Dec 2005 · Points: 1,145

or those within that think they can

Jeffrey Arthur · · Westminster, CO · Joined Mar 2008 · Points: 290

Just contact Jens at 8a.nu I'm sure he has ALL the answers to this thread. And doesn't everyone that climbs have a page on that site? If not you're behind the times....I KID, I KID!!!

Evan1984 · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Aug 2007 · Points: 30

I find it dangerous to estimate how many people even climb. I suspect that there vast numbers of people that don't even hit our radar.

Anyway, I always explain grades like this.

5.0-5.2-these are moves that, if you did them a foot off the ground, probably wouldn't even register in your mind as climbing.

5.3-5.4-easy climbing

5.4-5.7-the grade that you'd find a good but reasonable challenge if you never climbed before and were of reasonable fitness.

5.8-5.10-avid recreational climber

5.11-5.12-advanced recreational climber

5.13-elite

This is for toproping on outside rock as most people you have to explain grades to won't have an appreciation of leading. For sport leading, I'd say drop a grade and two for trad.

Just my 2 cents, but, now that I think of it, I don't like implying a human heirarchy of abilities based solely on a number grade. Maybe it should be rated as cruiser, less cruiser, thought provoking, challenging, hard, and really hard.

Evan

AJS · · Boulder, CO · Joined Mar 2008 · Points: 25

The impetus for the posting was to explain to a non-climber about the grades. I started with an explanation similar to Evan's but then the woman I was talking to asked how many people in the world can climb 5.14...I, of course, said something like. "well, there's me and maybe 200 other people" :-)

Peter Franzen · · Phoenix, AZ · Joined Jan 2001 · Points: 3,730
AJS wrote:The impetus for the posting was to explain to a non-climber about the grades.
You could always compare it to another sport, like this:

5.14 climbers - Akin to the people who can compete against Tiger Woods, DL III, etc.
5.13 climbers - People who can get into a PGA tournament on their best day, or who place well in local tourneys
5.12 climbers - Reasonably good amateurs, who can shoot a few strokes over par on a good day

etc.
Guideline #1: Don't be a jerk.

General Climbing
Post a Reply to "Number of climbers currently at each grade"

Log In to Reply
Welcome

Join the Community! It's FREE

Already have an account? Login to close this notice.