Climbing Grades Explained: the 1A-6B Alpine System

Almaty is one of very few two-million cities on earth where genuine alpine summits start 40-50 minutes from downtown. The Maloalmatinskoe gorge above Shymbulak is the local training ground for mountaineers and climbers, with everything from walk-up peaks to world-class walls. To read any route description here, you need to understand one thing first: the grading system. This guide explains the 1A-6B alpine scale used across Kazakhstan and the former USSR – with real local routes as examples – and how the French sport-climbing scale differs.

Two systems, two different questions

Alpine grades (1A-6B) rate the whole route: length, terrain, weather exposure, hazards, autonomy. Sport-climbing grades (the French 3a-9b+ scale) rate only the technical difficulty of the climbing itself. A short, safe 6a sport route and a 6A alpine route share nothing but a symbol – the second one is a multi-day undertaking for professionals.

The alpine scale, grade by grade

1A-1B: the entry level

1A is walking terrain with scree and easy glacier – trekking to the Tuyuk-Su pass or Titov Peak belong here. What you need: fitness and confident footwork on rock and scree. 1B adds snow and ice slopes to 30° and short rock steps – Amangeldy from the west, Pioneer, Molodezhnaya. Here ice axe and crampon skills become mandatory: the group moves roped, with running or pitched belays off terrain features, cams and nuts on the steep bits. From 1B up, “hiking experience” stops being enough.

2A-2B: basic technical climbing

2A brings ice to 30-40° and modest rock – Amangeldy (3,999 m) by the south-west ridge, Abay by the south ridge. In photos a 1B and a 2A can look identical; on the mountain the difference is enormous – in length, time and technical demand. 2B raises it again: ice and snow to 45°, rock sections from 20 m – Oktyabrenok by the north-west ridge. Now you need solid rope work, self-arrest that actually works, and climbing around French 4b-5a. Nobody goes onto a 2B unroped.

3A-4B: advanced

3A-3B mean steep ice lines and serious rock walls – Komsomol by the north ridge is the local reference, with 4-5 hours of sustained technical ground. 4A-4B add tall technical walls and mixed terrain – Oktyabrenok’s Central Bastion – with 5-6 hours of hard climbing, steep difficult ice, and rock at French 6a and up. Advanced ice-tool and gear-placement skills are assumed, not taught.

5A-6B: professional

World-class routes: vertical walls, hard ice, nights on the face, aid climbing. Tuyuk-Su has a handful – the Khrishatogo central-west face goes at 5A (the peak itself has an easier route for mortals). These demand everything a climber can have, from elite movement skills to deep theoretical and practical knowledge.

The scale at a glance

How routes are climbed

• Solo – one climber, with or without protection. The riskiest style.
• Simul-climbing – the rope team moves together, protected by rope tension between them.
• Pitched climbing – leader climbs, partner belays; the standard on technical ground.
• Fixed lines – leader fixes a rope; the team ascends on jumars.

The governing principle everywhere: choose the safest method for yourself and everyone on your rope.

The French sport scale, for comparison

Bouldering uses the same scale with one caveat: a 6a boulder problem feels harder than a 6a route, because everything happens in a few maximal moves.

Getting ready for graded routes

Fitness: endurance work – running, cycling, swimming, strength training, uphill running – plus regular climbing on artificial walls and real rock. Acclimatisation: above 3,000 m an unadapted body answers with headaches, nausea and weakness; gain altitude progressively and check the mountain forecast before every outing. Gear: from 2A-2B you need warm mountaineering boots, membrane clothing, crampons, ice axes, harness, rope, quickdraws and a rack of cams and nuts – our gear guide covers the clothing system, and our safety guide the rest of the discipline.

The right place to learn all of this is a club section or an alpine-camp course, not a YouTube playlist – see our guide to starting alpinism in Almaty for where the city’s schools, sections and the Tuyuk-Su camp fit in.

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