Grading
NB Many of the walks and scrambles described in Mountain Meanders are difficult and dangerous. Do not attempt any Grade 3 or higher route unless you are experienced with exposed rock scrambling.
A variety of grading systems are in use in the Cape - and elsewhere in the world. The traditional Mountain Club of South Africa (MCSA) system uses A, B, C, etc, where A is a walking route, B a scramble, C an easy rock climb, etc. However as Mountain Meanders has a focus more on the scrambling and walking than climbing, this grading system was felt to be unsuited. It is also a uniquely South African system not known elsewhere, and, to add to the confusion, other clubs in the Cape use a similar notation, but with different meanings, as depicted below.
"The most difficult way up a mountain, is to climb via a crag or sheer face and this is rock climbing. Walking is the most straight forward way up a mountain. The grey area in between the two is one of the purest and most exciting of all outdoor pursuits which you can enjoy. Scrambling is a very basic and probably the most dangerous form of mountaineering..." http://www.snowdonia-adventures.co.uk
The system used is the Yosemite Decimal System (YDS) which caters for both walking, scrambling and climbing and is widely used in the USA and elsewhere. The grading is summarized below with a rough "equivalence" to other systems - see the foot of this page for a more detailed description. YDS is similar to the UK scrambling grading but appears to be "one notch different". (Comment from anyone with comparative experience is welcome...) However, the best way to understand a grade is to walk it! The next best, is a picture of a typical route - see some examples in the table below.
To complicate matters even more, OSM uses the Swiss Hiking Grading system with levels of T1 to T6. Well worth reading this page.
All grading is of course subjective and different climbers will have different perceptions of a grade. See Wikipedia for a fuller description of climbing grades or the table below by Mike Scott from the 2003 MCSA Journal. If you are unfamiliar with the Cape, or with the grading system, try an easier route first and work your way up the grades until you are comfortable with what they mean. Note that the gradings are mainly intended for walkers/scramblers rather than climbers as experienced rock climbers would not use a rope on class 4 routes or even on easier class 5 routes.
Star rating
The use of a star rating is even more contentious and subjective. Despite these limitations it is still felt to be a useful supplement to the grading system. The system adopted is that used by Ernest Lotz in his Jonkershoek Guide. But note that the star rating has a bias towards scrambling routes as most walking routes (grades 0 and 1) end up with either no star or a single star! This does not mean they are not pleasant and enjoyable walking routes. Maybe someone can think up a system of star rating for walking routes...
Yosemite Decimal System - from www.ii.uib.no/~petter/mountains/Difficulty