Walk Grading System

All our walks are graded from 1 to 5.  The number indicates the difficulty of the walk. The grading is a combination of the duration, distance and difficulty of the route. Some or all of the criteria below will be used to rate each walk

1  Easy – up to 3 hrs duration, up to 8km, flat terrain or small height gain, the route will follow a path or simple trail e.g. coastal walk or park trail.
2  Easy/Medium 
– up to 3.5hrs duration, up to 10km, height gain up to 400m, the route may follow a path or be over open ground.
3  Medium – up to 4hrs duration, up to 12km, height gain up to 800m, the route will be over open ground, navigation skills (map reading and compass work) may be required.
4  Medium/Hard – up to 5hrs duration, up to 15km, height gain up to 1200m, the route will be over open ground and may be steep or exposed, navigation skills (map reading and compass work) may be required.
5  Hard – over 5hrs duration, 15km+, height gain over 1200m, the route will be over open ground and may be very steep or exposed, some scrambling may be involved, navigation skills (map reading and compass work) will be required.

Typically we begin each term with walks which are graded Easy or Easy/Medium and introduce harder walks as the term progresses.

For more information on a specific walk see the walk description page or if there is a review of the walk from a previous term you can get further details.