How is the difficulty of a route rated?

More safety for your outdoor sport: The more precise the information on the difficulty, terrain and character of a route is, the easier it is to find exactly the right experience for you. And if you publish routes yourself, you help the community to be safe on the trail with precise information. That's why we offer you detailed difficulty scales for your activity when creating routes.

Rating the route's difficulty

The importance of accurate information

Each of your routes requires an assessment of the difficulty and terrain. Anyone who decides on your route relies on your description. We believe: With good planning and precise information about the difficulty, many tricky situations - especially in alpine terrain - can be avoided in advance. Because if you overestimate yourself or are poorly informed due to inaccurate information, you can put yourself and others in danger.

Classifications for activities

Sometimes it's not so easy to be objective, because an individual's fitness and experience levels mean that we all judge things differently. There are also major regional differences in how difficulties are assessed and displayed on signposts.

This is where official activity-specific difficulty scales play a role. We have implemented a number of these (including most recently the hiking difficulty scale of the Swiss Alpine Club), to cover activities such as mountain biking, ski touring, climbing, and many more. Each grade carries a written definition, which should help you rate your route as objectively as possible.

If the activity you're writing about doesn't have an official difficulty scale, then a point system of 1 to 6 can serve as a guideline. We have put together some definitions for these as well to help you to evaluate your routes correctly.

These difficulty scales that are available

Hiking scale of the Swiss Alpine Club (T-scale)
Climbing difficulty (UIAA)
Climbing difficulty (French)
Via ferrata difficulty (Schall scale)
Mountain bike ascent difficulty
Single trail difficulty
Snowshoe tours Difficulty
Ski touring difficulty
Alpine touring difficulty (SAC / IAFS)
Steepness Ice
Ice climbing difficulty
Mixed climbing difficulty

How is the difficulty of a route calculated?

In the Route Planner, difficulty ratings are calculated and displayed while you plan your route. This is allows our system to estimate technical difficulty and the required endurance level right away. While you are planning, our system automatically collects the cartographic data such as the difficulty for the respective sections.

Based on this information, the following rating is provided:

the highest technical difficulty (e.g. the hiking scale T1-T6)
the overall difficulty in three steps: easy, medium, difficult

Click on the ⓘ to display the difficulty details.

The difficulty details while planning your route
Photo: Alruhn Wehde, Outdooractive Editors

When searching for hikes, you'll come across difficulty ratings like easy, medium, and difficult. These categories are determined by a calculation system that considers factors such as technical difficulties, trail conditions, elevation gain, and distance. These ratings are designed to help you better assess hikes beforehand. But ultimately, the perceived difficulty will depend on your own experience and abilities.

1 and 2 points indicate an easy overall difficulty, 3 and 4 points indicate medium, and 5 and 6 points indicate difficult. If the ratings suggest different difficulty levels, the higher one is used. For example, if the fitness level is rated 2 points (easy) and the technical difficulty is rated 5 points (difficult), the overall rating is still considered difficult.

Keep in mind: These ratings are based on ideal conditions. Weather factors like wetness, ice, fog, and wind can make a route much harder. If a route includes sections of varying difficulty, the highest difficulty is always listed.

Technical Difficulties (for all activities without own rating system)

The activity-specific skills and practice needed.

Very easy - can be completed by anyone without specific technique training.

Easy - can be completed without specific technical training and with little previous experience.

Challenging in places - but rarely difficult. Previous experience helpful.

Sometimes difficult - previous experience necessary, specific technique training an advantage.

Difficult - previous experience essential and specific technique training recommended.

Very difficult - difficult over long distances. Previous technique training essential.

Fitness Requirement

Very easy - can be done by anyone without prior training.

Easy - possible without preparation.

Somewhat demanding - basic fitness is required.

Moderately difficult - good fitness is required.

Demanding - good fitness is essential and prior training is recommended.

Very demanding - very good fitness and previous training are essential.

Route difficulties directly on the map

With an Outdooractive Pro subscription, you can display the technical difficulty of routes directly on the map. This lets you easily choose the right level when planning your trip. For example, by activating the “Hiking” or “Mountain biking” trail networks under “Maps and trails” button (bottom right of the screen) and zooming in close to a trail. The T-scale (hiking), single trail scale (MTB) will then be displayed directly along the route.

Authors' reviews of the experience and landscape

Experience

1 star: The route does not offer any interesting sightseeing or rest opportunities and no tourist highlight. There is no possibility to stop for refreshments.
2 stars: The route offers a few interesting sightseeing opportunities and hardly any tourist highlights. Refreshment opportunities are available at the start and/or finish point.
3 stars: Along the route you can learn interesting facts about the landscape, region or history in a museum, on display boards or at information points. There are rest and refreshment stops along the way.
4 stars: The route offers some interesting sightseeing opportunities. Along the route there are places to stop for refreshments and scenic rest areas. There is a tourist highlight (e.g. climbing park, toboggan run, children's playground).
5 stars: The route offers numerous attractive resting places and typical regional refreshment stops. Special features of the landscape, region and history are vividly presented along the way. Several tourist highlights are available.
6 stars: The route offers numerous attractive rest areas and typical regional refreshment stops. Special landscape, regional and historical features are vividly presented along the way. Many tourist highlights round off the experience of the route.

Landscape

1 star: The route leads through boring landscape and almost exclusively through built-up areas. There are no natural highlights.
2 stars: The route often leads through built-up areas or past buildings. The landscape is not very varied and offers few views worth seeing or natural highlights.
3 stars: The route also runs through built-up areas, but offers scenic variety. In some places you will find beautiful views and unspoiled flora and fauna. Culturally historic buildings (castles, palaces, mills, old manors) are part of the landscape.
4 stars: Although the route passes through built-up areas in places, it still offers notable scenic highlights and beautiful views. Landscape-disturbing elements such as mining and industrial areas or an accumulation of recreational facilities such as mountain ski lifts, ski resorts, recreational facilities are rare.
5 stars: The route leads through varied natural areas (e.g. forest, meadows, mountains, valleys, gorges, heath, coast, rivers, lakes) and offers numerous highlights. Sections through built-up areas that are disruptive to the landscape are reduced to a minimum.
6 stars: The route runs through varied natural areas with distinctive value. It offers beautiful views, and the flora and fauna are diverse. There are cultural-historical monuments in the area, but it is in no way built-up in a way that is disruptive to the landscape.