Can you compare bouldering and sport climbing grades?

They measure different things

A boulder grade rates a handful of hard moves close to the ground: power, technique and finger strength. A route grade rates a whole climb, often 20 to 40 metres long, so it also includes endurance, clipping, resting and staying calm when you’re pumped.

That’s why a strong boulderer can struggle on a route well below their bouldering level, simply because it’s long, and why a route’s hardest move is usually easier than its grade suggests to someone who only boulders.

Font 6A is not French 6a

Font boulder grades and French route grades look almost the same, but they’re separate scales. Writing Font in capitals (6A) and French in lowercase (6a) is the convention that keeps them apart. Changing the case doesn’t convert one into the other.

What to do instead

• Convert within a discipline: boulder to boulder (V-scale to Font), route to route (French to YDS).
• Keep your levels separate. Most climbers have a bouldering grade and a sport grade that move at different speeds.
• If you’re new to one style, start a few grades below where you’d expect and work up.

Why gyms show both

Many gyms have bouldering and roped walls side by side, each with its own grades. They’re set by the same people for the same climbers, so they give a feel for how your bouldering and route climbing compare in that gym. They’re not a conversion you can take outside.

More background in why there are so many grade systems.