Thank you Volker for linking cai_scale. During my research on the subject, I learned, that the SAC itself is using its scales quite like the CAI, as a means to note hikers about requirements of what in OSM are called "routes", something, which starts at a POI and has a POI as its goal, where the most demanding section determines overall grade.
It is just in openstreetmap, where the key derived from the SAC hiking scale could be used to create climbing-topo-like mappings, where difficulty over a route from a hut to a summit e.g. could change from easy to difficult back to easy and so on, in 5m increments, by splitting the route in several sections, in OSM called "ways", that could get separately graded. Such a practice is not widely used, mostly mappers that laid the groundwork did follow the SAC spirit, and drew a single way through from start to goal. Yet, I have seen such topo-like mappings too. Looking at the crossing of Monte Pirio, it is mapped as several ways all tagged demanding_mountain_hiking. Other pictures on the web show grade mountain_hiking there, so in my eyes, this is not a climbing-topo-like application of sac_scale, not in 5m sections, such I only observed on MTB grading, but at least in 100m sections, where the splits sometimes appear at questionable waypoints. I conceived of the proposed tag during RfC on "sport=mountaineering" on the community forum, where it was suggested to go for "highway=*" instead. A switch that I happily took part in. Feedback has been quite positive indeed. This is the trending base. Switching base key had other implications. For me, "highway=scramble" immediately became the "highway=unclassified" of the path multiverse. Lots of comments later, I must conclude, that for many though, it is perceived more a cousin of "highway=steps". I guess, a proposal that wants to win the voting and the mapping communities approval has to cater for the lazy and the busy mappers alike and take care, that it supports neither in tagging wars. WDT? _______________________________________________ Tagging mailing list Tagging@openstreetmap.org https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/tagging
