GRADE

PO THE New Ice Grading System Also Applies to Mixed Routes

It started as a joke with rating routes with a PickedOut (PO) scale, but turned into something more serious once it caught on. Many climbs suffer from being picked out by mid-season. Joe McKay came up with a way to measure the “Swiss cheese” effect with the following grading. Now many climbers will write grades as WI5 PO-2 or so on.