tmazanec1 wrote:My cousin's husband is a ski instructor (that's why she lives in Colorado). He informed me that ski slopes have a grading (I forget how it went), that sorted them from "easy for beginners" to "hard for experts"
Does caving have a similar system?
Not officially but in my club we give of all european caves we have visited a kind of guideline for fellow cavers of how we experienced the trip. The list can be found here
http://www.scavalon.be/avalonuk/av09.htmThis is our experience and rating.
1 easy, light trip, max . 5 h, maybe a bit of rope work
2 not difficult, a bit heavier, max. 8 h, more rope work
3 pretty difficult, pushing trip, often a lot of rope work, max. 12 h.
4 difficult, strenuous trip, often a lot of rope work, max. 18 h.
5 very difficult, very strenuous, a lot of rope work, 18-30 h, a "killer" cave...
This classification depends upon the objectives of the caving trip. In general, OUR objective was to bottom the cave! This classification is only of use for experienced cavers who perfectly master all rigging- and SRT-techniques and are in good physical condition