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Sport climbing (orbolted climbing) is a type offree climbing in the sport ofrock climbing where thelead climber clips theirrope—via aquickdraw—into pre-drilled in-situbolts on the rockface for theirprotection as they ascend theroute.[1] Sport climbing differs from the riskier and more demanding format oftraditional climbing where the lead climber—as they ascend the route—must also find places into which temporary and removable protection equipment (e.g.spring-loaded camming devices) can be inserted for their safety.[2]
Sport climbing dates from the early 1980s when leading French rock climbers wanted to climb blankerface climbing routes that offered none of thecracks or fissures into which temporary protection equipment could be safely inserted. While bolting natural rock faces was controversial—and remains a focus of debate in climbing ethics—the safer format of sport climbing grew rapidly in popularity both for novice and advanced climbers. All subsequenttechnical grade milestones in rock climbing would come from sport climbing.
The safer discipline of sport climbing also led to the rapid growth incompetition climbing, which made its Olympic debut at the2020 Summer Olympics. While competition climbing consists of three distinct rock climbing disciplines—lead climbing (the bolted sport-climbing element),bouldering (where no bolts or any protection is needed as the routes are short), andspeed climbing (also not bolted and instead uses atop roping format for protection)—it is sometimes confusingly referred to as "sport climbing".
Sport climbing is a form offree climbing (i.e. no artificial or mechanical device can be used to aid progression, which is in contrast withaid climbing) that is performed in pairs, where thelead climber clips into pre-drilled permanently fixedbolts on the rockface for their protection while ascending. The lead climber usesquickdraws to clip into the bolts. The second climber (also called thebelayer) then removes the quickdraws as they climb the route after the lead climber has reached the top.[3][4][5]
Sport climbing differs fromtraditional climbing which requires the lead climber to find places into which temporary and removable climbing protection equipment can be inserted as they simultaneously try to ascend the route—and thus sport climbing is a safer and less physically demanding way to ascend a climbing route.[2] Sport climbing differs fromfree solo climbing where no climbing protection is used whatsoever.[3]
Confusingly, the sport of competition climbing — which consists of three distinct rock climbing disciplines:lead climbing (the bolted sport-climbing element),bouldering (where no bolts or any protection is needed as the routes are very short), andspeed climbing (where atop rope climbing format is used for protection) — is sometimes referred to as "sport climbing".[3][4][5]
Sport climbing developed theredpoint as the definition of what constitutes afirst free ascent (FFA), which became the definition of an FFA for all climbing disciplines.[4][6] Redpointing allows for previously controversial techniques ofhangdogging,[7]headpointing,[6] andpinkpointing (incompetition lead climbing — the sport climbing component of competition climbing — and in extreme sport climbing, the quickdraws are pre-clipped to the bolts for simplicity, which is known as pinkpointing).[4][6]
By the early 1980s, the leading rock climbers were beginning to reach the limits of the existing traditional climbing protection equipment. They looked to climb the blankerface routes that did not have the usualcracks and fissures that are needed in which to place traditional climbing protection such asspring-loaded camming devices.[4][9] In France, leading climbers such asPatrick Berhault andPatrick Edlinger began to pre-drill permanentbolts into the pocket-marked limestone walls ofBuoux andVerdon Gorge for their protection.[9] These became known as "sport climbing routes" — as there was none of the associated risks of traditional climbing, it was a purely sporting endeavor. Early notable examples of these sport-climbing routes includePichenibule7b+ (5.12c) in 1980.[9][10] Around the same time atSmith Rock State Park in the United States, American climber Alan Watts also started to place pre-drilled bolts into routes, creating the first American sport climbs ofWatts Tot5.12b (7b), andChain Reaction5.12c (7b+) in 1983.[9][11]
Sport climbing was rapidly adopted in Europe, and particularly in France and Germany by the then emerging professional rock climbers such as German climberWolfgang Güllich and French brothersMarc Le Menestrel [fr] andAntoine Le Menestrel [fr]. The United Kingdom was more reluctant to allow bolting on natural rock surfaces, and early British sport climbers such asJerry Moffatt andBen Moon were forced to move to France and Germany. The bolting of external natural rock surfaces was also initially controversial in the US, although American sport climbing pioneer Alan Watts later recounted that American traditional climbers were as much against the "redpointing" techniques of sport climbers (i.e. continually practicing new routes before making thefirst free ascent), as they were against the use of bolts.[11] Eventually, these sport climbers began to push newgrade milestones far above traditional climbing grades, and the use of bolts on natural rock surfaces became more accepted in outdoor climbing areas across America and Europe.[11]
The significantly safer aspect of sport climbing over traditional climbing led to rapid development incompetition climbing in the 1980s, wherecompetition lead climbing events were held on bolted routes.Climbing noted the importance of events such as the 1988 International Sport Climbing Championship atSnowbird, Utah, for introducing leading European sport climbers such as Edlinger andJean-Baptiste Tribout to leading American traditional climbers such asRon Kauk andJohn Bachar.[12]
By the end of the 1990s, theUIAA (delegated to theInternational Council for Competition Climbing), and latterly theInternational Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC), was regulating and organizing major international climbing competitions, including the annualIFSC Climbing World Cup, and the biennialIFSC Climbing World Championships.[13] Competitive climbing includes sport climbing (which is competition lead climbing), and alsocompetition bouldering andcompetition speed climbing.[13]
Debates remain about the ethics of attaching permanent metal bolts on natural outdoor rock, which is also related to the broaderclean climbing movement. Many climbing areas—particularly in Continental Europe (for example notable crags such asOliana in Spain, andCeuse in France)—have become fully bolted. However, many others remain emphatically non-bolted, such asClogwyn Du'r Arddu in the United Kingdom, where only traditional climbing techniques are allowed, and attempts to make even very dangerous routes a little safer with even singular bolts (e.g.Indian Face) have been undone.[14]
In the United Kingdom, theBritish Mountaineering Council (BMC) maintains a register of outdoor climbing areas that are suitable for bolting, and those which are to remain bolt free; in addition, the BMC offers guidance on bolting-related ethical climbing issues such asretro-bolting.[15][16]
Sport climbing requires far lessrock climbing equipment than traditional climbing as the protection is already pre-drilled into the route. Aside from the standard equipment of lead climbing (e.g. arope,belay device,harness, andclimbing shoes), the only important other important pieces of equipment arequickdraws to clip the rope into the bolts without generating friction.[17] On complex sport climbing routes that don't follow a straight line, the alignment and lengths of quickdraws used are important considerations to avoidrope drag.[17]
The pre-drilled bolts will degrade over time—particularly in coastal areas due to salt—and eventually, all sport climbs need to be re-fitted after several years.[18] The highest quality titanium bolts are too expensive to use regularly, and the next highest quality stainless steel bolts have an expected lifespan of circa 20–25 years (the cheaper plated stainless steel bolts have a shorter span); and in 2015, theAmerican Alpine Club established an "anchor replacement fund" to help replace the bolts on America's estimated 60,000 sport-climbing routes, however ageing bolts remain a problem in sport-climbing.[19]
As sport climbing removes the danger of a route by using bolts, sport routes aregraded solely for their technical difficulty (i.e. how hard are the physical movements to ascend the route), and unlike traditional climbing routes, do not require an additional grade to reflect risk.[20][21] The dominant systems for grading sport-climbing routes are theFrench system (e.g. ... 6b, 6c, 7a, 7b, 7c, ...), which is also called French sport-grading, and theAmerican system (e.g. ... 5.9, 5.10a, 5.10b, 5.10c, 5.10d, 5.11a, ...).[20][21] TheUIAA system (e.g. ... VII, VIII, IX, X, ...) is popular in Germany and central Europe.[20] TheAustralian Ewbank system (e.g. ... , 23, 24, 25, 26, ...) is also used.[20][21][22]
Even though the grading of sport-routes is simpler than traditional-routes, there is the issue of how to compare a short route with one very hard move, with a longer route with a sustained sequence of slightly easier moves. Most of the above grading systems are based on the "overall" difficulty of the route, and thus both routes could have the same sport grade.[20][23] As a result of this, it has become common for the advanced sport-routes (e.g.Realization,La Dura Dura, andLa Rambla) to describe the hardest moves by theirbouldering grade, via theFrench "Font" system (e.g. ..., 7B, 7C, 8A, 8B, ...) or theAmerican "V-scale" system (e.g. ..., V9, V10, V11, V12, ...).[23] French sport-grades can be confused with French "Font" boulder grades—the only difference being 'capitalization'.[23]
As an example of how sport and boulder grades are used on sport climbing routes, this isAdam Ondra describing his 2017 redpoint ofSilence, the first-ever sport climb with a sport-grade of 9c (French), which is the same as 5.15d (American) or XII+ (UIAA):
The climb is about 45m long, the first 20m are about 8b [French sport] climbing with a couple of really really good knee-bars. Then comes the crux boulder problem, 10 moves of 8C [French boulder]. And when I say 8C boulder problem, I really mean it. ... I reckon just linking 8C [French boulder] into 8B [French boulder] into 7C [French boulder] is a 9b+ [French] sport climb, I'm pretty sure about that.
— Adam Ondra in an interview withPlanetMountain (2017).[24]
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Since the development of sport climbing in the early 1980s, all of the subsequent grade milestones (i.e. the next levels of hardest technical difficulty) in rock climbing have been set by sport climbers. German climber Wolfgang Güllich raised sport climbing grades from8b (5.13d) in 1984 withKanal im Rücken to9a (5.14d) in 1991 withAction Directe.[26] American climberChris Sharma dominated sport climbing development in the decade after his ground-breaking ascent ofRealization/Biographie at9a+ (5.15a) in 2001 andJumbo Love at9b (5.15b) in 2008.[26] Czech climberAdam Ondra took the mantle of the world's strongest sport climber from Sharma by freeingChange [fr] in 2012 andLa Dura Dura in 2013, both at9b+ (5.15c).[25] In 2017, Ondra freedSilence, the first-ever sport climb at9c (5.15d).
Female sport climbing was dominated in the 1980s by American climberLynn Hill and French climberCatherine Destivelle who set new female grade milestones and also competed against each other in the first climbing competitions.[26] Spanish climberJosune Bereziartu dominated the setting of new grade milestones in female sport climbing in the late 1990s and early 2000s; her 2005 redpoint ofBimbaluna at9a/9a+ was only a half-notch behind the highest male sport climbing route at the time, which wasRealization/Biographie at 9a+.[26] By 2017, Austrian climberAngela Eiter had broken into the9b (5.15b) grade withLa Planta de Shiva, and in 2020 made thefirst female free ascent of a9b (5.15b) withMadame Ching. In 2020–21,Laura Rogora andJulia Chanourdie also climbed9b (5.15b) sport routes.Brooke Raboutou climbed Excalibur9b+ (5.15c) in Arco, Italy in 2025. Only a handful of male climbers have climbed at9b+ (5.15c), and only Adam Ondra at9c (5.15d).
Some of the strongest-ever sport climbers were also some of thestrongest-ever competition climbers, such as Adam Ondra, Lynn Hill, and Angela Eiter. However, some of the other strongest-ever sport climbers either largely ignored competition climbing, or retired early from it to focus on non-competition sport climbing, such as Wolfgang Gullich,[27] Chris Sharma,[28] and Josune Bereziartu.[29]
the style of climbing (= moving on rocks, up mountains, or up special walls as a sport) in which climbers use devices that have already been fixed to the rock, rather than using devices that they bring with them and remove after the climb
Sport Climbing. Climbing on routes that use bolts. Traditional "Trad" Climbing 1. Climbing where the leader places protection as they go up.
Statement of Youth: The Birth of British Sport Climbing
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