You'll find that we grade our climbs according to three factors: technical difficulty, physical difficulty and the level of culture shock. Let me explain what we mean by each...

Physical difficulty of trips

1. Alpine trekking - up to 1200 m of vertical in a day on short trips
2. Longer trips with high daily loads of 1000 m+ vertical
3. Climbs involving 1000 m+ of vertical climbing above 4000 meters
4. Same as Level 3 with the addition of speed as a must
5. Climbs to summits over 6000 meters in altitude

Technical difficulty grades

1. Trekking on rocks or snow to 25 degrees steepness, no hands required
2. Alpine Grade PD - 30-45 degree snow/firnice axe required, may have to use with hands, as you may meet UIAA Grade III rock.
3. Alpine grade AD: 40-55 degree slopes or UIAA grade-III rock
4. "My feet are shaking!" Alpine grade D: 50-70 degree snow-walls or UIAA IV-V rock: serious stuff
5. D graded climbs None of our package trips do this level, but you can request an expert to accompany you for your D or higher graded project.

Here's a table detailing the above used grades on MountainDays.

Culture shock grading

As far as the cultural environment of your country/area of destination, we have set up grades to indicate what degree of culture shock you may expect.

1. Your usual cultural environment, no big surprises in relation to Anglo/Saxon way of life
2. A little different than what you are used to at home, but no big suprises
3. Your trip is a cultural experience in itself, with amusing differences form what you're used to at home.
4. This is a different world; you have to significantly alter your expectations and behaviour.
5. Possibility of extreme culture shock; forget any rules you may have brought from home, life runs completely differently than what you can even dream up.