Hello. For those familiar with Canadian rivers and Stuart Smith's guidebooks, I have a question regarding his rating system. I have not paddled in Canada so have no point of reference.

In the US guide books I’m familiar with, the rivers/creeks seem to be rated based on what the bulk of their most difficult whitewater is. For example, if a run contains thirty class 4 rapids and ten class 3's, the rating would be "Class 4". If the run had thirty class 4 rapids but only a small hand full of portageable 5’s, its rating might be class 4 with 5 in parenthesis, like this: “Class 4 (5)”.

As someone not familiar with that latter run, they’d know, from a quick glance that they’d need to be able to paddle class 4 and willing to portage the small hand full of 5’s. With Smith’s ratings however, even though I can appreciate what he’s trying to do, I’m left scratching my head. As an example, Smith might rate something like this: “Grade 2-3” and “Class 1-6+” and then in the description, describe a number of "grade 4,5 & 6 drops . That's a lot of numbers to process.

I’m sure one could easily enough figure out Smith’s system by simply testing the waters so-to-speak but not everyone outside Canada has that luxury when planning a trip on a tight schedule.

Could someone offer some insight on Smiths rating system? His guides seem excellent otherwise and it's obvious he put forth an extreme amount of effort putting them together. I'm just confused

Thanks.

Where in B.C. are you planning to go?  I could maybe give you some Beta.

Fisher

Here is what I would say off hand.

If smith gives a general rating that seems in a certain range. Bump it up a notch, ie smith Class III = Class IV

If you get a river that says III(V) you can count on something like a class IV run with some monster rapid in the middle.

In my experience the ()'s indicate something that is out of the ordinary on the run or something that is much more difficult than the other rapids. It does not have anything to do with portageability or scoutability.

In fact I would not trust a single person but yourself or your trusted sources for that Beta in BC. Things change up there alot, and even if things have not changed you can count on locals baiting your ass into a wild experience. Of course only because they care ... right...

Look at the runs on maps, try and pick out the gradient... Part of the fun of planning your trip is taking the steps of pre-exploration preparation and although beta and others experiences should be a source of information it should be the least trusted source. Use your maps, gauges, and other concrete information before trusting a Trip Reports or personal accounts.

Just my 2 centalo's

Thanks, guys. I'm still not clear on this though. With the books I'm familiar with here in the western US, rivers are rated by classes, ie, Little White = CLASS 5-5+ in Bennett's book.

Smith however lists a "GRADE" and a "CLASS". Which one do you use to decide a minimum skill level to do the run, "grade"?

I'll search for that other thread and hopefully gain some insight there too.

Thanks.

From what you have described of how Stuart describes difficulty, and what I have heard about the trustworthiness of Stuart's river beta, I would be very hesitant to put on to any river if the only information I had was what was in his book.
Like others said, look for as much outside information on the runs as possible: other guide books, blogs, topos etc. I don't know what region Stuart's guidebook describes, but since he claims 1s D's in BC I assume runs there are in the book (there is a "decent" amount of BC river beta online). If you can compare the accepted ratings of known runs with Stuarts assessments, you should get a better idea of how his rating system work.
The best way to really understand how he rates river is if you can compare your experience on the river with his description...but that means you have to run it. Sort of a Catch-22. Maybe this means -even if you're on a "tight schedule"- that you should start with some of easiest runs so that you don't get in over your head.
Finally, my experience with BC kayaking (and everywhere else) is that word of mouth beta from people that you trust is the most valuable.
Good luck  figuring out that guidebook, that rating system sounds ridiculous!

I have used stuarts book for a few runs in eastern bc. what i can say is add a rating in most circumstances, beware of levels, and know that if he says the run is 10 miles automatically add at least 2 onto that number.

1to6+ means that are 1's, 2's 3's 4's 5's and6+'s.
Since he didn't put 6 in ( ) I'd assume that theres more than one.
I read the description of the Brazeau in which he mentions at least 4 or 5 class 5-5+ DROPS.
The grade he denotes relates the over all river.
Most of the way its III-III+, however there may be a few hard drops throughtout excepting the class V.
If you take a class III boater he should be prepared to portage.
Gradient with volume can also help you read between the lines.
At high water you may go too far into a rapid, where portaging in not a pleasant option.