V Scale to Font Converter
Convert any bouldering grade between the V-scale and Font, both directions, no fluff. Pick a grade — the other side translates instantly, and every grade below has its own answer.
Link straight to this conversion
Full V-Scale to Font conversion chart
| V-Scale | Font | What it feels like |
|---|---|---|
| VB | 3 – 4 | First session territory — big holds, ladder moves |
| V0 | 4 / 4+ | Beginner — jugs, straightforward feet |
| V1 | 5 / 5+ | Confident beginner — smaller holds appear |
| V2 | 5+ / 6A | The first "problems that fight back" |
| V3 | 6A / 6A+ | Regular gym climber after a few months |
| V4 | 6B / 6B+ | The classic first plateau — technique required |
| V5 | 6C / 6C+ | Intermediate — body tension and real crimps |
| V6 | 7A | The grade every gym climber chases |
| V7 | 7A+ | Advanced — training starts to matter |
| V8 | 7B / 7B+ | Strong — years of mileage behind it |
| V9 | 7B+ / 7C | The border of the elite amateur world |
| V10 | 7C+ | Double digits — a lifetime goal for most |
| V11 | 8A | Elite amateur / sponsored territory |
| V12 | 8A+ | Semi-pro |
| V13 | 8B | Professional |
| V14 | 8B+ | World-class |
| V15 | 8C | A handful of climbers per generation |
| V16 | 8C+ | The current frontier |
| V17 | 9A | The hardest confirmed boulders on Earth |
Every V-grade in Font, one at a time
Each answer below has its own link, so you can send someone straight to the grade they asked about.
What is V0 in Font?
V0 ≈ Font 4 / 4+. The first grade with a number on it in either system. Holds are jugs, feet are where you'd put them anyway, and the problem rewards standing up rather than pulling. In Fontainebleau the same terrain is often circuit yellow.
What is V1 in Font?
V1 ≈ Font 5 / 5+. Same shapes as V0 with less of them. You start needing a foot placement you wouldn't have found on your own, and the first move off the ground stops being free.
What is V2 in Font?
V2 ≈ Font 5+ / 6A. The grade where problems start fighting back. Expect one genuinely awkward move rather than a hard sequence — usually a high step, a slopey top-out, or a reach that punishes bad feet.
What is V3 in Font?
V3 ≈ Font 6A / 6A+. Where most gym climbers land after a few consistent months. Holds get small enough that grip position matters and you can no longer muscle past a bad plan.
What is V4 in Font?
V4 ≈ Font 6B / 6B+. The classic first plateau in both systems, and the most searched conversion of the lot. This is where technique overtakes strength: people stuck at V4 are usually losing the problem in their feet and hips, not their fingers.
Open this in the converter · see how many V3s you need first
What is V5 in Font?
V5 ≈ Font 6C / 6C+. Solidly intermediate. Real crimps appear, body tension stops being optional, and most problems have a move you cannot do until you've done it once.
What is V6 in Font?
V6 = Font 7A. The cleanest one-to-one in the whole table, and the grade most gym climbers describe as their goal. 7A carries far more weight in Europe than V6 does in the States — same difficulty, different cultural freight.
What is V7 in Font?
V7 ≈ Font 7A+. Advanced. Around here, sessions that aren't structured stop producing sends, and the climbers who keep moving up are the ones who started training on purpose.
What is V8 in Font?
V8 ≈ Font 7B / 7B+. Strong, with years of mileage underneath it. The conversion gets fuzzier from here: 7B and 7B+ both get called V8 depending on who graded it and where.
What is V9 in Font?
V9 ≈ Font 7B+ / 7C. The edge of the elite amateur world — hard enough that the pool of people who have done the problem is small enough to argue about the grade.
What is V10 in Font?
V10 ≈ Font 7C+. Double digits, and a lifetime goal for most people who ever try. It's the grade that gets named in bios.
What is V11 in Font?
V11 ≈ Font 8A. Sponsored territory. 8A is the number European climbers quote the way Americans quote V11, and it's the threshold where a send gets logged publicly.
What is V12 in Font?
V12 ≈ Font 8A+. Semi-professional. At this grade the number of ascents worldwide per problem is usually countable, which is exactly why the grades move around.
What is V13 in Font?
V13 ≈ Font 8B. Professional. Full-time training, full-time recovery, and a body that has been doing this for a decade.
What is V14 in Font?
V14 ≈ Font 8B+. World-class. A few hundred people alive have climbed at this grade.
What are V15, V16 and V17 in Font?
V15 = Font 8C, V16 = 8C+, V17 = 9A. The top of the confirmed scale. V17 has only a handful of proposed ascents in the world, and every one of them is still argued over — which tells you everything about how grades actually work.
Going the other way: Font to V-scale
The converter above works in both directions, and the chart lists every pair. For the Font side grade by grade — 6A, 6B, 6C, 7A, 8A and the rest, each with what it means in practice — we wrote a dedicated piece: Font to V Scale: the full conversion chart, 6A to 9A.
How the two scales work
The V-Scale (from "Vermin", John Sherman's nickname) was born in Hueco Tanks, Texas. It's open-ended, linear, and used across the USA and most gyms worldwide. The Font scale comes from Fontainebleau, France — the oldest bouldering area in the world — and mixes numbers, letters and pluses (6A, 6A+, 6B…). Neither is "more accurate": they're two languages describing the same pain.
The practical difference is resolution. Font has more rungs in the middle of the range, which is why one V-grade sometimes swallows two Font grades (V5 covers both 6C and 6C+) and why the conversion drifts as you go up.
Why every conversion is approximate
Grades are consensus, not physics. A Font 6B in Fontainebleau might shut down a V5 gym climber — outdoor grades are notoriously harder than indoor ones, and every area has its own history of sandbagging. Treat this chart as a translator, not a promise: if you're heading outside for the first time, read our gym-to-crag guide and expect to drop two or three V-grades. That's normal, and it's temporary.
Quick answers
What is V4 in Font grades?
V4 converts to roughly Font 6B / 6B+. It's the classic "first plateau" grade in both systems.
What is V5 in Font grades?
V5 converts to Font 6C / 6C+. The V-scale is coarser than Font here, so a single V5 covers two Font grades.
What does V5 actually feel like?
Solidly intermediate: real crimps, body tension, and usually one move you can't do until you've done it once. Every grade is described that way in what every V-grade feels like.
Is a gym V4 the same as an outdoor V4?
Almost never. Gym grading is softer — most climbers lose 2–3 V-grades on their first outdoor trips before adapting to real rock.
What's the hardest boulder grade in the world?
As of today, V17 (Font 9A) is the top of the confirmed scale, with only a few problems in the world at that grade.
What grade should a beginner aim for?
VB–V2 covers your first months, and that's exactly where it should be. The attempt counts for more than the number — that's kind of our whole thing.
Knowing the number is one thing, getting there is another — the bouldering pyramid builder shows you which grade is actually holding you back.
Built free for climbers by CRACX — the people behind the Ascend bouldering chalk bucket. More free tools on the tools page, more straight talk on Field Notes.