Stas Beskin opens with Daniel Martian the new mixed route „Trial“ (M9 +, FH WI 6) in Southern of Ontario. Since he considers that the current evaluation system is inadequate, he also proposes a new rating system which distinguishes between FH – for „free-hanging“ – or FS – for „free-standing“.

We have looked at the problem: It is becoming more and more clear, that the current WI classification system („water ice“) does not exactly reflect the variety of ice formations and conditions that climbers can find on the wall. We all know thate. g. water and sunlight can change the conditions of the route drastically. The grade given upon first ascents reflects the difficulty of the route only at that given moment; it does not account for the conditions another party might encounter the very next day. This makes the whole system of ice grading extremely unreliable and subjective. How can you grade a medium that is ever-changing? This makes the whole rating system extremely unreliable and subjective. The above suggest to diffenrt in „FH“ and „FS“ is not the best solution.