Class 3 and Class 4 Climbing: 5 Tips for Those New to Alpine Scrambling

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The “in-season” alpine climbing in Colorado is through the summer. Now, as you get more experienced and practiced, you’ll find that you can climb above tree line year round if you are into that kind of thing. But summer is definitely when the masses come out.

And every year, there are new people added to the masses… people just starting out with alpine hiking. Often these alpine hikes are aiming at Colorado’s 14ers: mountains that stand above 14,000 feet tall. They make a natural introduction to pursuits in the alpine because they are limited in number and are (of course) “the tallest” peaks (outside of Alaska). See people are drawn to them and can also kind of get their head around the number of them (58) for setting a goal.

It seems, though, that after a subset of the new members of the masses get enough climbs under their belts, a good portion of them decide that they’d rather take on more challenging routes and not just more peaks. And thus, at the end of very “in-season,” I start to see postings about people wanting to attempt their first “scramble” (a class 3 or class 4 climb).

Just as a reminder, class 3 climbing requires the use of your hands for sustained periods in order to make progress up the mountain. Class 4 climbing falls just short of the need for ropes, as it is characterized by plentiful hand and foot holds, but consequences of a fall could be severe.

So, as people get better, their goals change. And they want to potentially finish the Colorado 14ers (some of which demand class 3 or even 4) or they move onto finding scrambling routes on any alpine peak (12ers, 13ers, and 14ers), and become more drawn to particular routes than the particular summits.

Thus there is a refreshing pipeline of budding alpinists that are newly entering the class 3 and class 4 world of scrambling… every year, and every year as we begin to turn from summer into fall.

That was the inspiration behind this video. I wanted to give a condensed primer on some of the things that will be foundational to transitioning from hiking to climbing.

There is inherently more challenge in a scramble. The routes are less trafficked and harder to stay on. The objective hazards are typically greater. The commitment (difficulty in turning around) is often higher, too. To combat that, we need to plan better, communicate better, take appropriate gear, and move with purpose. Those ideas are what I cover in the video.

But, as always, when an outdoor experience moves to another level, the equipment required changes, too. That’s why I specifically mention helmets and footwear.

For helmets, there is a balance to be had with lighter being far less likely to strain cause headaches but heavier being more robust in the case of a fall or being struck by a rock. For that reason, my go-to helmet these days is the Mammut Wall Rider. It uses an EPP (expanded polypropylene) core foam, which is way more comfortable than other foam types on the top of your head. And then it is still weighs just under 8 ounces (220g). This puts it in the class of light helmets, but certainly not the lightest. It still has a pretty full hard top.

And then for footwear, I mention the benefits of good traction and “approach shoes.” I was using a pair of Solomon Quests on a scramble with my friends a number of years ago. As they happily bounded over rocks, I was slipping. I couldn’t trust my feet to hang on if I was any kind of slope. There wasn’t enough grab or friction. I bought my first pair of approach shoes the next day. Now, I always scramble in approach shoes.

As I mention in the video, approach shoes are typically made by companies that also make climbing shoes and thus have become expert at making rubber compounds with high friction on rock.

In the video, I am using La Sportiva Boulder X GTX Mid… which is not longer made in the mid-height boot. Now, they are only made as shoes in both mens’s and women’s models. The Boulder X shoes are not the “best climbing” of approach shoes, if you read the reviews. But they do consistently get mentioned for having the stickiest of the rubber compounds available on approach shoes. I have found this to be true, too, and that’s why I like them for scrambling. On a scramble, I don’t need to toe-in very often on small edges or in pockets. I need to have grab on sloping boulders and rock buttresses. So, the stickiest rubber I can find is the most useful of features. In fact, I will often climb class 5, roped slabs in my Boulder X footwear even above my technical climbing shoes. The friction is that good.

Regardless of what equipment you choose, good traction and a helmet are going to be essential. But once you have the right gear for the climb, the real work begins, and that’s where the planning, communication, decision making, and movement will come into play and where (I hope) the real value of the video lies.

So, take a look, plan a route, and welcome to the world of alpine scrambling!