Marquis Villas Resort

How do they rate trails at ski resorts?

How do they rate trails at ski resorts? I was looking it up and it says that beginner trails are from 6% to 25%. What does the percent mean? What makes a blue a blue, a black a black, and so on?

Public Comments

1. In North America, the trails are rated in 4 groups and it is relative for that area only. Green runs are the easiest marked with a green circle, Blue runs are more difficult than green and are marked with a square. The most difficult are marked with a black diamond, extreme difficulty are marked with 2 black diamonds known as double black diamond runs. A blue run in one area may be black in another or green in another. In North America there are few if any runs that would go beyond a double black run, since this would be nearly unskiable terrain and most likely marked as danger cliffs.
2. I always think of them as beginner (easy), intermediate, and expert (difficult). Where I ski, the green squares are the beginner runs, blue circles are intermediate, and black diamonds are difficult.
3. Trail ratings go in measures of difficulty from Green Circle to Blue Square to Black Diamond to Double Black Diamond. Sometimes you'll see a mix of these symbols to denote trails with intermediary difficulty levels. (examples would be a double square or a square within a diamond) Each ski area marks their trails differently, there are many factors which influence the rating and there is no standard for ratings. Therefore a blue at one resort may be a green at another, and a black at another, depending on how they rate trails. The percentages you posted refer to grades. A 100% grade refers to a 45 degree angle, a 25% grade is therefore around 11-11.5 degrees. This isn't the only factor, as I stated, other factors include obstacles and grooming.