News

Australian Trail Difficulty Rating System Revised

Jan 19, 2021

In 2018 Mountain Bike Australia released the Australian MTB Trail Guidelines which included a revision of the Trail Difficulty Rating System (TDRS).

The TDRS, which is used to grade mountain bike trails according to their relative technical difficulty, underwent a further revision in October 2020.

The Australian TDRS uses the IMBA system of classifying trails with the following additions and interpretations:

  • The addition of two new trail difficulty classifications – one new classification between green and blue and one new classification between blue and black.
  • Making the following difficulty assessment criteria ‘guiding criteria only’
  • Trail width
  • Trail surface
  • Trail gradient
  • Quality of signs
  • Making the following difficulty assessment criteria ‘risk assessable criteria’:
  • Trail exposure
  • Natural and technical trail features.

In terms of changes between the 2018 and 2020 versions of the TDRS, the following revisions were made:

  • Inclusion of rail trails into very easy trail grade
  • Increases in trail gradient
  • Increases in level of exposure
  • Natural obstacles and technical features – height of obstacles and inclusion of new obstacles

A copy of the revised TDRS table which highlights the changes between the 2018 and 2020 versions, was emailed to all those who purchased a copy of the Australian MTB Trail Guidelines. A copy of the 2020 version and summary of changes is available on the AusCycling website.

Revisions to TDRS Guidelines

Summary of Revisions to Aust MTB Trail Grading


Written by
AusCycling
Disciplines
Mountain Bike