UKC

winter grades

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 jadeevans692 02 Dec 2019

I think I understand the grading system in therms of I,II,III etc, however unsure what the star things are (not correct term for punctuation clearly) 

what are these used for ?

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 Sean_J 02 Dec 2019
In reply to jadeevans692:

It's like the little asterisks you used to get on the fronts of fridge freezers - they tell you how cold the route will be. More asterisks means a colder route. It's all on average of course though, obviously some days are warmer/colder than others.

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 Michael Gordon 02 Dec 2019
In reply to jadeevans692:

It's how frosty the route needs to be in order to be in acceptable winter condition. 

 alan moore 03 Dec 2019
In reply to jadeevans692:

I thought it was how many hours you could expect to queue up before you can start.

 tjdodd 03 Dec 2019
In reply to alan moore:

> I thought it was how many hours you could expect to queue up before you can start.

Ah, so that's why the downfall is a 10 star route.

 Suncream 03 Dec 2019
In reply to jadeevans692:

As much as I'm enjoying these responses, I think someone should actually answer the question:

The stars (and it's the same in most guidebooks, be it rock climbing or scrambling or winter) reflect the quality of the route, subjective though it is. The more stars, the more worthwhile it is.

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 UKC Forums 03 Dec 2019
This thread was started in the ROCKTALK forum and has now been moved.
Please could you try and post in the correct forum, it makes life easier for both users and moderators.

Winter Climbing
From Scottish gullies to Rjukan ice falls, this is the forum to discuss everything involved with winter climbing. Conditions, what's in and what's not, avalanche risk, recommended routes plus accounts of your exploits.

More Forum descriptions - http://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/info/forums.html
OP jadeevans692 03 Dec 2019
In reply to Suncream:

Oh that makes sense now thank you! 

 Misha 04 Dec 2019
In reply to Sean_J:

I thought it was more about how much snow there will be on the route. They are snowflakes, not stars. 

 JohnBson 04 Dec 2019
In reply to jadeevans692:

The stars are the number you'll see when an axe bounces off a rock slightly below the surface of what looks like a sinker placement and it swings back and the hammer hits you in the face.

 Root1 04 Dec 2019
In reply to jadeevans692:

Beware the Lake District winter grades!

They are graded

for optimum conditions, which rarely happen these days. 

We did a very thin Innaccessible gully allegedly grade 4 which felt more like 5/6 

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