How long does it take to climb V5?

What the numbers say

The YouTube channel Rock Talk collected data from 103 climbers on how long each grade took them, counting only time spent climbing consistently, three or four times a week. For V3 the median was about five months: a quarter of people got there in under two months, and three quarters within about a year. On the chart, each harder grade takes longer and the spread between people gets wider.

One climber’s first year gives a feel for it. Stephen Tvedt started climbing in July 2021 with no experience, climbed three days a week with a rest week every month, and a year later sent his first problem in his gym’s V5–V7 range. His conclusion: consistency and avoiding injury matter most.

Josh from Suck at Slab, who hit plateaus at V3 and V5 himself, describes the first six months to a few years as “newbie gains”: you move quickly from V0 into the V4s, then progress naturally slows. That’s why V5 is where a lot of people first feel stuck.

What climbing V5 actually means

V5 is about Font 6C to 6C+ (V5 on the grade chart). Gym grades vary a lot, so one V5 at one gym is a shaky milestone. Akane of S&A Climbing uses a stricter test for being a V5 climber: you can flash most V3s, send V4s in a few tries, and send V5s within a few sessions.

What gets you there

The advice from coaches and from climbers who’ve done it lines up:

• Climb regularly. Two or three sessions a week, every week, beats the occasional big day. Akane suggests making sessions hard to skip, for example by planning them with a partner.
• Learn the intermediate moves. Movement for Climbers’ V4–V5 lesson covers the techniques that start to matter here: foot swaps and step-throughs, heel hooks, flagging, timing a deadpoint, dynos, and reading a sequence by finding the key holds first.
• Fix the common mistakes. Lattice coach Jen’s list for V3–V5 climbers: pulling against a hold instead of leaning off it in its direction, readjusting hands and feet again and again, doing a hard problem once and moving on, and giving up on a climb after one or two goes.
• Try problems above your grade. You won’t send them yet, but trying single moves on harder climbs shows you what you need to learn.
• Climb different walls and styles. Other gyms, outdoor rock and the styles you avoid all teach moves your home wall doesn’t.
• Build fitness gently. General fitness, pull-ups and antagonist exercises help. If you start fingerboarding, use bodyweight on big edges and progress slowly.
• Look after skin and tendons. Stephen kept early sessions to about an hour to save his skin, and took a rest week every month.

If it’s taking longer

That’s normal. Progress isn’t a straight line: illness, travel or a busy month can set you back, and grades differ between gyms and setters. If you’ve stopped improving for months rather than weeks, read why climbers get stuck at V4 or V5.