At Allez Up, we use a color-coded circuit system to rate the difficulty of our boulders. Some of you have asked us why we use colores circuits rather than the traditional V rating system. Ratings are subjective values, they only give an estimate of the difficulty of a boulder. Nothing scientific, nothing really precise… As climbers, we appreciate them as indicators of progress, but they can also create psychological barriers.
For example: “This boulder is too hard for me, there’s no point trying it, I won’t be able to send it.” “This problem should be easy for me, if I fall into it.. I’ll feel like crap.”
The circuits present a broader, nuanced assessment of boulder difficulty, with colors deliberately overlapping to create a path of progression. Through this system, we want everyone to feel comfortable trying any boulder without being focused on the V-grade screwed to the wall.
Each color circuit is designed as a level, with the intention of gradually exposing you to different climbing styles so that everyone can develop their skills and confidence. For us, this experience is fundamentally more important and meaningful than the accumulation of individual sends.
The idea is not to climb hard, but rather to become a good climber. By observing the diversity of our community, your climbing styles and your goals, we developed the color circuits. This system is now used in 10 of our gyms across Canada. It has become a common language for all our openers, who work on it daily and enrich it with their know-how, enabling us to offer you a continually refined and improved experience.
Our mission is simple: to make you love climbing as much as we do, and to take you as far as possible in your passion.