6a+ to V Scale: How It Converts to a V4 or 5.11d

If you’re trying to figure out how the 6a+ grade converts to the V scale or Yosemite Decimal System (YDS), here’s a quick answer:

• 6a+ is roughly equal to V3-V4 on the V scale
• It’s also about the same as 5.11b to 5.11d in YDS

This guide breaks it all down so you understand why there’s a range and how these grading systems compare.

The 6a+ to V-Scale Conversion Explained

In the climbing community, grades are the highway signs that tell you what to expect before you even start. The 6a+ in the Font system and V3 in the V scale both represent a middle ground. For climbers, 6a+ is intermediate, but still a significant step up from the very basics. V3 is perfectly suited to that niche on the V scale.

Each grade challenges your movement, grip, and technicality, yet remains approachable for climbers finding their feet. Here’s a quick look at how these grades match up:

Font Grade	V-Scale	Challenge Level
5c	V2	Solid beginner, steady moves
6a	V3	Intermediate, steeper moves
6a+	V3–V4	Intermediate, trickier holds
6b	V4	Upper-intermediate, more power needed

Both 6a+ and V3 are frequently challenging you to demonstrate an efficient movement pattern. You’ll encounter crux slopes, pinches, or traverses that require more than power. Most climbers start to have concrete aspirations at these grades.

They’re all about connecting more difficult moves and addressing their areas of weakness. Understanding the conversion between grades enables you to measure advancement. For anyone learning or climbing in a gym, out at crags, or even overseas, conversion charts offer a guide to what to expect.

Different grading scales—UIAA, French, YDS, British E-grade—all attempt to quantify the same physical and mental effort, but they don’t always match up. So for instance, after UIAA Grade V+ (French 5a), the grades begin to separate.

The UIAA scale even became open-ended in 1985 to stay ahead of more difficult ascents. Everyone’s in agreement that above 5.12a YDS (f7a+ French), grades are more of a guideline, but even at this level, minor increases can seem major.

That’s one reason why so many people use their tables to compare and plan, yet each climb still often feels like a different experience.

What Are Climbing Grades Anyway?

Climbing grades are a useful shorthand for communicating the difficulty of a route. These grades are one of the tools that allow climbers to choose routes appropriate to their current ability and their desired progression. The grade tells you how steep, long, and hard a climb is.

It tells you if you’re going to have to get on tiny holds, make long reaches, or pass through dangerous zones. A 6a+ on the French scale would mean a route with small holds and steep moves. By comparison, a V3 on the V scale would be a demonstration of big powerful moves on a small boulder. Each system serves its intended audience.

For roped climbs, the YDS is what climbers in the U.S. Generally use. For bouldering, they use the V scale. For sport routes, Europe frequently adopts the French system, or Font, to grade.

Why do grades matter? Grades are important because they provide climbers an objective measure to establish goals and track their growth as a climber. Even if you fail, reaching for a higher grade can improve skill level and provide a rewarding feeling of advancement.

The National Climbing Classification System (NCCS) includes “commitment grades” that reflect the time and seriousness of a climb. This data is not only important for strategic and smart infrastructural planning, but for public safety. Grades can be arbitrary and subjective.

What is challenging for one climber doesn’t work for someone else. For example, a V3 could seem easy to a climber with powerful fingers, but hard to a beginner boulderer.

History of Grading

In some form or another, the history of climbing grades started over a hundred years ago with 6a Expo in 1918. Since then, grades of 9c have been climbed, illustrating the rapid progression of the sport. Adam Ondra was the first to tick this box back in 2017.

Heavily dependent on the era, grades change with new equipment and fashion. Even the type of rock, ice or gear can affect a grade. The more uncertain a climb is—a climb that has crumbly holds or defective gear, for example—the higher the grade is to reflect that danger involved.

Common Hurdles in Grade Translation

When climbers cross from 6a+ into the V-scale, they don’t just encounter different numbers. Crossing over means navigating a variety of grading systems, each with their own unique set of idiosyncrasies. The match-up between the French grades and the American V-scale is not clear-cut, which can be confusing.

In the U.S., climbers routinely confuse the Yosemite Decimal System (YDS) and the V-scale. This confusion usually happens even for people who are used to operating within a single grading system. The original ice climbing UIAA scale is still widely used and adopted in some regions. It does not have the same precision of newer systems, which can cause confusion when translating grades.

Physical limitations are a major hurdle. An experienced climber may notice that a 6a+ route that seemed trivial now feels a lot harder on a comparable difficulty V2 problem. The holds are tiny, the movement is very fluid and the body tension has to be on point.

This change emphasizes not only brute power, but overall coordination, agility and a strong center of gravity. Some pathways shift over time, as well. By way of example, just the repeated hammering of cracks or improvements in equipment can make previously protected aid routes much, much easier, resulting in grade deflation.

The mental ones are even more difficult. What’s sad about higher grades is that they are usually accompanied by the parity of fear or the anxiety of not being good enough. In fact, just the sight of a new letter or number is enough to cause even veteran climbers to doubt their footing.

Approaching them with a sense of confidence that comes from consistent practice and progressing to more difficult problems is key. Many climbers refine their movement, focus on technique, and work with partners to push past both physical and mental blocks.

My Take: Feeling Out the V-Grades

Transitioning from 6a+ to the V-scale, the first thing to understand is that V-grades might seem really subjective. So one V7 could be really easy and the next V7 could be basically a brick wall. There is no perfect formula for determining grade thresholds. They tend to be established by whoever can figure it out first—not after weeks of deliberation and a formal vote.

This creates a situation where the same V-grade could be perceived as approachably easy by one rider and intimidatingly difficult by another. In gyms out here in LA, a V4 on steep walls can feel drastically different than a V4 on slabs. Climbers like to chime in with, “No way! That’s not a V1, that’s a V3 at least!

Test riding a bunch of V-grades is a great way to find out what fits you best. Climbers notice that they can send all the crimpy boulders, but not the slopers or their climbing is reversed. Regularly writing in a journal has made a difference as well.

Keep notes on how each issue landed, what actions were most impactful and what grades challenge you the most. A few weeks in, you start to spot trends. For example, you will find out what moves are making you go slower and learn what kind of holds you like best.

Friends or experienced climbers who can give helpful feedback are priceless. Your peers will be the first to notice practices you’ve overlooked or to propose changes that improve your approach. V-grades are open-ended, going up to V17 for the world’s best climbers.

It’s this flexibility that opens up limitless possibilities for progress, no matter how far along your journey you may be. After all, progress seldom occurs in a day. To make it to the other side, stay committed, be patient and learn to accept some losses on the journey to success.

Tips for Your V-Scale Journey

Transitioning from 6a+ routes to the V-scale allows for a much greater variety of bouldering problems. Notes John “Vermin” Sherman developed the V-scale in the 1980s. It’s an open-ended scale that keeps growing as climbers push new limits, with the hardest problems now topping out at V17.

This approach only considers the technical difficulty. It fails to take into account height or exposure to danger, turning each ascent into an ultimate measure of motion and expertise.

To get stronger and improve technique for V-scale climbs, climbers use many training methods:

• Hangboarding for finger strength
• Campusing for power
• Bouldering drills to practice moves
• Mobility work for flexibility
• Footwork drills to sharpen precision
• Core workouts for body tension
• Targeted rest for recovery

Tip #2- Establish small, realistic objectives. If you’ve made it to V3, congratulations—shifting your focus now to V4. This is an important element of maintaining momentum and preventing a sense of paralysis.

Depending on the gym, V-scale grades can be all over the place. Thus, if a V4 at your local gym seems easier than a V3 or harder than a V5 at another one, that’s just how it goes! Reading a conversion chart is useful if you relocate or climb in areas that utilize the Font scale, as well.

Climbing well requires more than pure strength. Flexibility and endurance are important factors, especially as routes become more challenging. Consistent stretching, core work, and aerobic training create a necessary foundation to make solid, progressive gains.

Becoming a member of the climbing community is essential. Whether it’s group sessions, sharing beta or simply discussing new issues to work on, staying engaged is key.

That community support gets you through the inevitable plateaus and makes the experience more enjoyable and less isolating.

A Brief History of Climbing Ratings

Climbing ratings allow people to easily gauge the difficulty of climbs around the world. The Font grading scale took form in Fontainebleau, France around the early 20th century. Locals were looking for a better way to talk about bouldering problems. They implemented a number/letter-based system (6a+, etc.) to convey level of difficulty and style.

This set the precedent for bouldering ratings in much of Europe. Its impact was felt all the way across the channel in Britain, where the Font-grade quickly supplanted the Peak B-grades.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the Atlantic, the V scale was solidifying in the 1990s. In Hueco Tanks, Texas, rating system auteur John Sherman and his posse needed an easy-to-understand method to mark boulder problems. The V scale, starting at V0 as the easiest, provided an easy-to-understand climb-by-climb grade separation.

Today, it’s the standard bouldering scale in North America, and its adoption is increasing.

The evolution of climbing ratings has gone hand in hand with the expansion of the sport itself. The UIAA Scale of Difficulty, from A0 to A5, was primarily concerned with aid climbing and the nature of gear placements. Later, the Yosemite “new wave” system introduced even more grades, going up to A6, with the introduction of a ‘+’ for added nuance.

In 1967, John Ewbank developed a standardized grading system for climbs in Australia and New Zealand. This system gave a nice, open-ended, clean grade without a ceiling, countering the walls set by the British E-grade system. The British E-grade uses two separate grades to convey risk and effort.

This logic fits like a glove with the country’s focus on old-school trad routes. Over time, new systems appeared for different climbing styles: WI-grades for ice, M-grades for mixed. These adjustments are a testament to climbing’s evolving culture and drive for equity.

Climbing will always be subjective—grades change as gear advances and more climbers climb hard routes.

Looking Beyond Font and V-Scale

We all know that climbing is about so much more than just grades. Though Font and V-scale tend to steal most of the limelight, they only represent half the story. Most climbers dabble in a variety of grading systems to obtain the full picture. They take into account the American YDS, British E-grade, French sport grade, UIAA scale and Saxon scale. Each of these systems has its origins in a distinct style, geography, or climbing tradition.

The UIAA scale matches up exactly with the French system through Grade V+. Beyond that, the two systems start to diverge rapidly starting with several key differences. Real-world cragging experiences show that grades often change from place to place—even from crag to crag.

It’s a fact that various climbing disciplines require various methods of measuring difficulty. Sport climbing, trad, bouldering, and mixed routes each present their own unique challenges. The Scottish Winter scale employs a two-digit numeric system. The seriousness scale uses these numbers to reflect how hard the moves are, as well as how serious the route is.

Some climbs demand pure power and technical skill, while others require you to dig deep for endurance or mental fortitude. This is the reason so many climbers turn beyond the Font and V-scale in isolation. They look at route quality, aesthetic appeal, intimidating moves, and the type of rock.

Why It Matters: Understanding local grading is essential, especially if you’re on the go. Famous scales such as Elbsandstein (Saxon scale), Peak District (British system), or Yosemite (YDS) each have their own twists. Because grades are not always a true reflection of capability, do the research and, more importantly, go by your own experience.

Learning to climb properly on different systems develops true skill and is what makes each ascent that much more satisfying.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 6a+ mean in bouldering grades?

What does 6a+ mean in bouldering grades? It’s widely adopted in Europe, and it converts to around V3 or V4 on the American V-scale.

How do you convert 6a+ to the V-scale?

6a+ on the Font scale is roughly equivalent to a V3 or V4 on the V-scale. This will depend on each gym and location, but this is a solid rule of thumb.

Why is grade conversion between Font and V-scale tricky?

Why is grade conversion between Font and V-scale so difficult? Things like personal strengths, physical conditions, etc. Play a big role in how difficult a climb feels.

Which scale should I use in the United States?

The V-scale is primarily used in the United States for boulder problem ratings. Nearly all the gyms and outdoor bouldering areas out here utilize it.

Are the V-scale and Font scale used for rope climbing?

Are the V-scale and Font scale used on rope climbing? Rope climbing employs various grading systems, such as the Yosemite Decimal System (YDS) in the United States, or French sport grades.

What’s the main benefit of understanding both grading systems?

Understand both scales and you’ll be able to safely ascend, and freely discuss your abilities with other climbers across the globe. It helps when you’re planning trips by allowing you to more easily and quickly select routes appropriate to your abilities.

Does a V4 always feel the same as a 6a+?

Not necessarily. We all know that grades can be easier or harder depending on style, location, setter, and or weather/conditions. Use the grade as an indicator, but go with your own judgment.