BEND, Ore. — A Caldera High School senior is combining his love for climbing and coding to change the way athletes train.
Levi Waters, 17, has developed ClimbGrade, an AI-powered app that scans photos of climbing routes and rates their difficulty with consistent, data-based accuracy. The app even factors in a climber’s height, wingspan and weight to provide a more personalized rating.
Waters says his goal is to solve a long-standing frustration in the climbing community — inconsistent ratings between gyms.
“I’ve realized it’s very hard to track my progress as a competitor,” Waters said. “It’s really important to know what level you’re climbing at.”
Local climbers have already tested the app and say they’re impressed.
“It keeps everything consistent,” said Jackson Bloom, a Bend climber. “You go to different gyms and it can be really inconsistent.”
“From what I’ve seen already, it actually works,” added Jak Reynolds. “Gyms and even universal boards could use this kind of thing.”
What started as a high school engineering project has gained attention from EDCO and High Desert CTE, earning Waters a $700 award at the Bend Venture Conference to keep developing his app.
Waters hopes ClimbGrade will soon be integrated into local gyms, giving climbers a reliable way to measure progress across different routes.
The app is set to officially launch January 1, 2026.