Are coasteering routes graded, or does one have to rely on a qualitative description of the difficulties of a route?
What, you may ask, is coasteering? Does saying it is similar to kloofing help? Thought not. Many sites describe coasteering; here is a brief description exerpted from outsideonline.com, What Is Coasteering, and Where Can I Do It?
Coasteering is a combination of rock climbing, swimming, and optional cliff jumping. As you’ve probably guessed from the term, this sport, which got its start in Wales, takes place on a coastline. It has allure for those looking for an adrenaline rush—and some exercise—in a beautiful environment.
One of the greatest things about coasteering is that almost everybody can do it. Andy Middleton, founder of the TYF Group, which facilitates outdoor adventures in southwest Wales, says that “anyone who’s capable of walking the coast would be OK to coasteer. We introduced our kids to it not long after they’d learned to walk.” His organization has hosted coasteering excursions for people well into their seventies.
This sounds thrilling, but a coasteering experience that would be fine for a child soon after it has learned to walk, or a person in their seventies, however athletic and proficient, probably doesn't offer much of a challenge to an experienced coasteerer (if this is a word) in her prime. And vice versa: a route that would challenge an experienced coasteerer is probably no place for a beginner.
I have searched Are there grades in coasteering, and the few hits I got were about training coasteering guides, such as this one.
Hence my question: Is there a grading system, even an embryonic grading system, for this sport, similar (but perhaps more complicated) to the grading system for climbing? Or not, for reasons of the newness of the sport or the nature of the sport? Or would someone thinking about trying a route have to rely on a qualitative description of the route?
My thanks to @gerrit for raising this in Chat. He declined to post a question. As for kloofing, it seems to be canyoneering with a South African accent.
This post was sourced from https://outdoors.stackexchange.com/q/18292. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
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From the coasteering excursions I and my family have been on in Scotland, the rest of the UK and some other European countries, there appears to be no consistent grading.
What I have seen is use of common grading for the climbing parts plus usually a comment on the "relative danger" on the drop to water and swimming sections. This commentary may have height and tide information, as well as any key risks to be aware of.
So it's not yet as formalised as climbing routes.
(My favourite part of all coasteering is overhang routes, giving the option of falling into the sea below - no safety gear required!
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