In rock climbing and other climbing disciplines, climbers give a grade to a climbing route or boulder problem, intended to describe concisely the difficulty and danger of climbing it. Different types of climbing each have their own grading systems, many nationalities developed their own, distinctive grading systems. There are a number of factors that contribute to the difficulty of a climb, including the technical difficulty of the moves, the strength and level of commitment required, the difficulty of protecting the climber. Different grading systems consider these factors in different ways, so no two grading systems have an exact one-to-one correspondence. Climbing grades are inherently subjective, they may be the opinion of one or a few climbers the first ascensionist or the author of a guidebook. A grade for an individual route may be a consensus reached by many climbers who have climbed the route. While grades are applied consistently across a climbing area, there are perceived differences between grading at different climbing areas.

Because of these variables, a given climber might find a route to be either easier or more difficult than expected for the grade applied. In 1894, the Austrian mountaineer Fritz Benesch introduced the first known grading system for rock climbing; the Benesch scale had seven levels of difficulty, with level VII the easiest and level I the most difficult. Soon more difficult climbs were made, which were graded level 0 and 00. In 1923, the German mountaineer Willo Welzenbach compressed the scale and turned the order around, so that level 00 became level IV–V; this "Welzenbach scale" was adopted in 1935 by French mountaineers like Lucien Devies, Pierre Allain and Armand Charlet for routes in the Western Alps and in 1947 in Chamonix by the Union Internationale des Associations d'Alpinisme. It was renamed in 1968 as the UIAA scale. A 6-grade scale, it has been open-ended since 1979. For free climbing, there are many different grading systems varying according to country, they include: The Yosemite Decimal System of grading routes was developed as the Sierra Club grading system in the 1930s to rate hikes and climbs in the Sierra Nevada range.

The rock climbing portion was developed at Tahquitz Rock in southern California by members of the Rock Climbing Section of the Angeles Chapter of the Sierra Club in the 1950s. It spread to Canada and the rest of the Americas. A single-part classification system and protection rating categories were added later; the new classifications do not apply to every climb and usage varies widely. When a route involves aid climbing, its unique aid designation can be appended to the YDS free climbing rating. For example, the North America Wall on El Capitan would be classed "VI, 5.8, A5", or Medlicott Dome – Bachar/Yerian 5.11c The system consists of five classes indicating the technical difficulty of the hardest section. Class 1 is the easiest and consists of walking on terrain. Class 5 is climbing on vertical or near-vertical rock, requires skill and a rope to proceed safely. Un-roped falls would result in severe death. Class 6 was used to grade aid climbing. However, the separate A rating system became popular instead.

The original intention was that the classes would be subdivided decimally, so that a route graded 4.5 would be a scramble halfway between 4 and 5, 5.9 would be the hardest rock climb. Increased standards and improved equipment meant that climbs graded 5.9 in the 1960s are now only of moderate difficulty. Rather than regrade all climbs each time standards improve, additional grades were added at the top—originally only 5.10, but it soon became apparent that an open-ended system was needed, further grades of 5.11, 5.12, etc. were added, thus the system is no longer decimal. While the top grade was 5.10, a large range of climbs in this grade was completed, climbers realized a subdivision of the upper grades was required. Letter grades were added for climbs at 5.10 and above by adding a letter "a", "b", "c", or "d". The system considered only the technical difficulty of the hardest move on a route. For example, a route of 5.7 moves but with one 5.11b move would be graded 5.11b and a climb that consisted of 5.11b moves all along its route would be 5.11b.

Modern application of climbing grades on climbs at the upper end of the scale consider how sustained or strenuous a climb is, in addition to the difficulty of the single hardest move. The YDS system involves an optional Roman numeral grade that indicates the length and seriousness of the route; the Grade is more relevant to mountaineering and big wall climbing, not stated when talking about short rock climbs. The grades range from grade I to VI spanning a one-hour climb to a multi-day climb respectively. I–II: 1 or 2 pitches near the car, but may need to be avoided during avalanche season. III: Requires most of a day including the approach, which may require winter travel skills; the East Buttress route on Mt. Whitney is a grade III, yet it requires 1,000 feet of technical climbing and a total gain of over 6,000 vertical feet from trail head to summit. Only a minority of climbers, the most fit and seasoned, could do this route car to car in a day. Other grade III climbs, such as Cathedral Peak in Tuolumne, are done in one day.

IV: A multipitch route at higher altitude or remote location, which may involve multi-hour approaches in serious alpine terrain. A predawn start is indicated, unforeseen delays can lead

Rabbi Alexander Moshe Lapidos is known for his authorship of Divrei Emes, a Mussar sefer, published posthumously. His father, Rabbi Tzvi Lapidos, was a wealthy scholar who arranged that the 13 year old Alexander Moshe, whose in-person high-level interaction with many of the famous rabbis of that era were well known, should marry the only daughter of one of the wealthiest men in Yanova, a suburb of Kovna, Shimon Shushitzky. Over time Yenta and Alexander Moshe Lapidos had three daughters. After the death of Rabbi Lapidos' first wife, he married a second time. With this wife, Gruna, he had 3 more daughters; the obituary describing her death at age 36 mentioned both the poverty under which they had lived and her unusual involvement in dealing with local Maskilim. Thirty six years before his death, Rabbi Lapidus married again, his third wife, was from Mir. A year after marrying Rebbetzin Yenta, Rabbi Lapidos traveled to Salant where his main teacher was Rabbi Zvi Hirsch Braude, he began a life-long student-colleague of the decade-older Rabbi Yisroel Salanter.

At age 17 he left Salant to become the rabbi of Yanova, his father-in-law's hometown, staying there over 30 years. His next and final position was as Av Bais Din for the city of Rassein, his monument mentions a career span of 70 years. Although he corresponded with many rabbis and gave written rulings on their questions, most of what has survived of his writings are in the form of short articles in religious journals of the day and books written by others. Despite indication that he had many manuscripts in semi-final form, most of it was lost, it is his Divrei Emes, which has survived and been reprinted. Lacking funds for his thoughts of founding a newspaper to serve as a counterweight to one being published by local Maskilim, he partnered with an existing newspaper. Rabbi Lapidus wrote supportingly about Hovevei Zion in Shivath Zion

Carabus lafossei is a species of beetles of the family Carabidae. Carabus lafossei can reach a length of about 34–39 millimetres; the colours are quite variable, depending on the subspecies. Head and pronotum may be red or bluish, while the elytra may be red, bluish or green, with a strong metallic luster; the surface of elytra has numerous small tubercles. These beautiful ground beetle are active only at night, they feed on slugs and earthworms. This species is native to the southern provinces of China. Carabus lafossei buchi Hauser, 1913 Carabus lafossei coelestis Stewart, 1845 Carabus lafossei lafossei Feisthamel, 1845 Carabus lafossei montigradus Hauser, 1920 Carabus lafossei pseudocoelestis Kleinfeld, 1999 Carabus lafossei saturatus Hauser, 1913 Carabus lafossei tiantai Kleinfeld, 1997 Carabus lafossei tungchengensis Li, 1993 Biolib Carabidae of the world Carabus lafossei Postimage Postimage Carabus lafossei

Michael Patrick Kelly was a Republican member of the Alaska House of Representatives, representing the 7th District from 2005 until 2011. In the 26th Alaska State Legislature, he served on the Finance Committee, chairing the Corrections and the Natural Resources Finance Subcommittee, he served on the Fish & Game Finance Subcommittee. Mike Kelly was born on May 6, 1942 in Tacoma, the oldest of seven children of Halford "Hal" and Helen Kelly. Hal Kelly moved to Fairbanks, Alaska in late 1947. Mike Kelly graduated from Monroe High School in 1960. Kelly retired as the President and CEO of GVEA in 2000, was working as a commuter airline pilot for Tanana Air Service at the time of his election to the State House, he served a single term on the University of Alaska Board of Regents, from 1991 to 1999, serving as president of the board from 1996 to 1998. Kelly is the oldest brother of Pete Kelly, who represented Fairbanks in the Alaska House from 1995 to 1999, the Alaska Senate from 1999 to 2003. Mike Kelly ran for an open House seat in 2004, defeating a primary opponent and 3 opponents on the general election ballot.

Most of his time in office was spent dealing with solutions to problems brought on by the public employee retirement system in Alaska and the potential for future budget problems due to unfunded liabilities. This angered the old-timer and conservative constituencies who voted for him, as he talked about building large-scale development projects; the solution he achieved, which would have resulted in lesser benefits for newer public employees than the ones who came before angered the public employee sector. They began to target Kelly for defeat. In 2008, Kelly faced two primary challengers, he defeated Schaeffer Cox, a 24-year-old carpenter who would become better known for his involvement in the militia movement, by an 51 to 36 percent margin. In the general election, he was re-elected by only 4 votes against Karl Kassel, who had retired as head of parks and recreation for the Fairbanks North Star Borough. In 2010, he was defeated for reelection by a former television anchor. Political action committees were formed to oppose Kelly.

Advertisements pointing out his actions on the public employee retirement issue, presented in contrast with his own retirement package from Golden Valley Electric Association, were a constant presence during the 2010 campaign season. Kelly and his wife Cherie had five children, Shannon, Erin and James, as well as 12 grandchildren, he graduated from Monroe High School in 1960, attended Seattle University from 1960–1961, received his Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the University of Alaska in 1966. Kelly was killed in the crash of an American Champion Citabria, being piloted by Kelly, on Fort Wainwright near Fairbanks, Alaska on December 7, 2016. Alaska State House Majority Site Alaska State Legislature Biography Project Vote Smart profile Mike Kelly at 100 Years of Alaska's Legislature

Roger Bennett was an American Southern gospel pianist, songwriter, co-founder of the award winning gospel quartet Legacy Five. Prior to forming Legacy Five, he served nearly 20 years as pianist for The Cathedrals. Born March 10, 1959, grew up in Strawberry, Arkansas, he was raised in a Missionary Baptist home. In November 1979, Roger fulfilled his lifelong dream of being a part of professional southern gospel music when he was invited by Glen Payne and George Younce to join the legendary Cathedral Quartet. Though he would leave the group for two years to serve as the president of Journey Records, Roger was the group's pianist at the time of the quartet's retirement in 1999. Roger served as the Cathedrals' lead singer for the final three months of the group's farewell tour in 1999, following the passing of long-time lead Glen Payne. Following the retirement of The Cathedrals and fellow Cathedrals member Scott Fowler launched Legacy Five. In 2004, Roger fulfilled another dream when readers of Singing News voted Legacy Five as the Favorite Traditional Male Quartet.

Although an excellent singer, Roger is best remembered as pianist—and a comedian. Roger received the Singing News Fan Award for Favorite Southern Gospel Pianist 15 years in row, was voted into the Southern Gospel Museum and Hall of Fame in 2007. Songwriting was another forte' of Roger Bennett. Many of his songs appeared on the recordings of Legacy Five and many others, his writing talent was not limited to just songs, however. Roger was a contributing editor to Singing News, writing "Midnight Meditations." In 1995, Bennett was diagnosed with leukemia. He spent some time off the road, his leukemia battle would be a struggle on over the next twelve years. During his various periods of remission, as as his health permitted when the cancer relapsed, he continued to travel with the Cathedrals and Legacy Five, he received three bone-marrow transplants at the M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas as well as extensive chemotherapy and radiation treatments. However, his leukemia continued to progress, the cancer treatments led to different health problems, including different kinds of cancer and many infections.

He died on March 17, 2007. Kffb.com/blog early interview with Roger Legacy Five's Homepage

Vicente Segrelles is a Spanish comic book artist and writer. Segrelles gained popularity in Europe for his painted comic book epic The Mercenary, started in 1980. Set in a medieval fantasy world, El Mercenario follows the adventures of a mercenary in his fight against evil. Unusual for the craft of comic books, every panel of his work for this series—which has reached 14 issues so far—is painted in oil, a time-consuming process. Segrelles was the cover artist for the Italian science fiction magazine Urania from 1988 to 1991. Josep Segrelles Segrelles Museum Official website Vicente Segrelles at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database