[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":1567},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog-what-is-the-ifsc-world-cup":3,"blog-related-what-is-the-ifsc-world-cup":100},{"id":4,"title":5,"author":6,"body":7,"category":79,"date":80,"description":81,"draft":82,"extension":83,"image":84,"imageAlt":85,"imageCredit":86,"imageCreditUrl":87,"imageType":88,"mapArea":88,"mapLabel":88,"mapLat":88,"mapLng":88,"mapPath":88,"mapZoom":88,"meta":89,"navigation":90,"path":91,"readTime":92,"seo":93,"stem":94,"tags":95,"__hash__":99},"blog\u002Fblog\u002Fwhat-is-the-ifsc-world-cup.md","What is the IFSC World Cup?","The Sendit Team",{"type":8,"value":9,"toc":71},"minimark",[10,14,19,22,25,29,32,35,38,42,45,48,52,55,68],[11,12,13],"p",{},"If you only watch climbing during the Olympics, you are catching the sport once every four years and missing the season that actually defines it. The IFSC World Cup is where the world's best climbers compete all year round, and it is the circuit that turns names into household ones long before they reach an Olympic final.",[15,16,18],"h2",{"id":17},"the-body-behind-it","The body behind it",[11,20,21],{},"IFSC stands for the International Federation of Sport Climbing, the governing body that runs international competition climbing. It oversees the rules, the rankings and the calendar that the elite scene revolves around. When you see athletes ranked as the best in the world, that ranking comes out of the IFSC system rather than any one event.",[11,23,24],{},"The federation organises competition across the same three disciplines you see at the Olympics: bouldering, lead and speed. Each has its own events, its own specialists and its own season standings.",[15,26,28],{"id":27},"how-the-world-cup-works","How the World Cup works",[11,30,31],{},"The World Cup is not a single competition but a series of events held in different countries through the year. Climbers travel the circuit, scoring points at each stop based on where they finish. Those points add up across the season, and at the end the climber with the most points in a discipline takes the overall World Cup title for that year.",[11,33,34],{},"That structure rewards consistency as much as brilliance. A climber who podiums steadily across a whole season can win the overall title without ever topping the single most dramatic event. It also means a bad day in one city is not the end of your season, which keeps the racing tight right to the final round.",[11,36,37],{},"Alongside the World Cup series sits the World Championships, a separate, less frequent event where a single world title is on the line. The two are easy to confuse. Think of the World Cup as the long league season and the Championships as the one-off cup final.",[15,39,41],{"id":40},"why-it-feeds-the-olympics","Why it feeds the Olympics",[11,43,44],{},"Sport climbing's place at the Olympics raised the profile of the whole sport, but the pathway runs through the IFSC. The circuit is where qualification happens, where formats get tested, and where the athletes you eventually see on the Olympic stage spend most of their competitive lives. Following the World Cup is the best way to understand who is in form heading into a Games and why certain results matter.",[11,46,47],{},"It is also simply better viewing if you want to actually learn the sport. Watching the same climbers across a season, you start to recognise styles, rivalries and the way setting trends shift from event to event.",[15,49,51],{"id":50},"worth-following","Worth following",[11,53,54],{},"A few reasons to keep an eye on the circuit:",[56,57,58,62,65],"ul",{},[59,60,61],"li",{},"You see far more climbing than the Olympics offers, across a full calendar.",[59,63,64],{},"The athletes become familiar, so finals carry the weight of a real season behind them.",[59,66,67],{},"Streams and recaps are widely available, so you can dip in without a huge commitment.",[11,69,70],{},"For climbers, there is a practical upside too. Watching elite setting up close is a quiet education in movement. You pick up how the best climbers read a problem, how they rest on a lead route, and how they commit to a coordination move that looks impossible until someone sticks it. Take that back to your own sessions, log what you try, and the gap between watching and doing starts to close.",{"title":72,"searchDepth":73,"depth":73,"links":74},"",2,[75,76,77,78],{"id":17,"depth":73,"text":18},{"id":27,"depth":73,"text":28},{"id":40,"depth":73,"text":41},{"id":50,"depth":73,"text":51},"Climbing culture","2026-01-16","The global competition circuit that feeds the Olympics, and why it is worth following.",false,"md","https:\u002F\u002Fimages.unsplash.com\u002Fphoto-1560539517-86e5c7fefb65?w=1600&h=900&fit=crop&crop=entropy&q=80&auto=format","A climber outdoors","Patrick Hodskins","https:\u002F\u002Funsplash.com\u002F@phodskins",null,{},true,"\u002Fblog\u002Fwhat-is-the-ifsc-world-cup",5,{"title":5,"description":81},"blog\u002Fwhat-is-the-ifsc-world-cup",[96,97,98],"climbing culture","competitions","ifsc","NNlHgUUZLiTQvKB1q6TISPLAGf6wOFy9tqAAOgzaXVM",[101,201,279,327,433,527,743,896,1103,1247,1410],{"id":102,"title":103,"author":6,"body":104,"category":79,"date":187,"description":188,"draft":82,"extension":83,"image":189,"imageAlt":85,"imageCredit":190,"imageCreditUrl":191,"imageType":88,"mapArea":88,"mapLabel":88,"mapLat":88,"mapLng":88,"mapPath":88,"mapZoom":88,"meta":192,"navigation":90,"path":193,"readTime":194,"seo":195,"stem":196,"tags":197,"__hash__":200},"blog\u002Fblog\u002Fclimbing-films-worth-watching.md","Climbing films worth watching",{"type":8,"value":105,"toc":182},[106,109,113,116,123,129,136,140,143,149,152,155,159,162,179],[11,107,108],{},"Climbing films are oddly good at converting people. You sit a friend down who has never touched a hold, press play, and an hour later they are asking where the nearest gym is. Something about watching a person inch up impossible rock cuts past the usual scepticism. Here are the ones worth your evening, and worth showing the curious.",[15,110,112],{"id":111},"the-films-that-broke-through","The films that broke through",[11,114,115],{},"A handful of climbing documentaries have reached well beyond the climbing world, and for good reason.",[11,117,118,122],{},[119,120,121],"em",{},"Free Solo"," is the obvious starting point. It follows Alex Honnold's ropeless ascent of El Capitan's Freerider in Yosemite, and even people who could not name a single grade come away rattled by it. What makes it more than a stunt reel is the way it sits with the discomfort of the people around him, the partner and friends who have to hold the knowledge of what he is attempting. It is a film about risk and the cost of obsession as much as about climbing.",[11,124,125,128],{},[119,126,127],{},"The Dawn Wall"," tells a slower, rope-bound story on the same wall: Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson's years-long effort to free climb the hardest route on El Capitan. It is the better film for showing what most climbing actually is. Falling, working a section over and over, the grind of returning to a single hard move. The drama is in persistence rather than danger, which is closer to the truth of the sport.",[11,130,131,132,135],{},"If you want the lineage behind both, ",[119,133,134],{},"Valley Uprising"," is a rowdy history of Yosemite climbing across the decades, full of the characters and feuds that built the place. It explains why El Cap looms so large in the climbing imagination.",[15,137,139],{"id":138},"beyond-the-big-rocks","Beyond the big rocks",[11,141,142],{},"Not every great climbing film is set on a thousand-metre wall.",[11,144,145,148],{},[119,146,147],{},"Reel Rock"," is less a film than an annual tour, a touring collection of short pieces that has become a fixture in gyms and cinemas. The quality varies, as anthologies do, but it has captured an enormous range of climbing over the years, from gritstone to alpine choss to bouldering in the woods. If you want a sense of the breadth of the sport, this is the place to graze.",[11,150,151],{},"For something quieter, the older Patagonia and outdoor-brand short films are worth digging out. They tend to dwell on landscape and character rather than the hardest possible objective, and they age well precisely because they are not chasing a record.",[11,153,154],{},"Older heads will point you towards the climbing films of decades past, the grainy gritstone footage and the early big-wall expeditions. They look dated now, but they carry a flavour of the era and a reminder that the sport did not begin with sticky rubber and crash pads.",[15,156,158],{"id":157},"watching-well","Watching well",[11,160,161],{},"A few thoughts before you queue these up.",[56,163,164,173,176],{},[59,165,166,167,169,170,172],{},"Show ",[119,168,127],{}," before ",[119,171,121],{}," to anyone new. It gives them an honest picture of the work involved before the rope-free spectacle reframes climbing as death-defying.",[59,174,175],{},"Take the danger on screen with some perspective. The vast majority of climbing is roped, padded and far less precarious than a free solo. Films naturally gravitate to the extreme because it is cinematic, not because it is normal.",[59,177,178],{},"Resist the urge to compare yourself. These are the strongest climbers alive working at the edge of what is possible. The point is to be moved, not measured.",[11,180,181],{},"What these films do best is convey the feeling rather than the numbers: the focus, the fear, the absurd joy of moving over stone. That is the thing that hooks people, and it is the thing that keeps the rest of us coming back long after the novelty should have worn off. Watch a couple, and you will probably find yourself itching to get on the wall before the credits finish. When you do, it is worth keeping a record of the climbs that lit the same spark in you.",{"title":72,"searchDepth":73,"depth":73,"links":183},[184,185,186],{"id":111,"depth":73,"text":112},{"id":138,"depth":73,"text":139},{"id":157,"depth":73,"text":158},"2026-05-22","From Free Solo to The Dawn Wall — the films that capture climbing and pull new people in.","https:\u002F\u002Fimages.unsplash.com\u002Fphoto-1577434150594-9eff5643b78a?w=1600&h=900&fit=crop&crop=entropy&q=80&auto=format","Rahadiansyah","https:\u002F\u002Funsplash.com\u002F@rahadiansyah",{},"\u002Fblog\u002Fclimbing-films-worth-watching",6,{"title":103,"description":188},"blog\u002Fclimbing-films-worth-watching",[96,198,199],"films","inspiration","FacSMstcjgE0Alqucl4Luk9EpxR2gInTkke-BIW9u7k",{"id":202,"title":203,"author":6,"body":204,"category":79,"date":269,"description":270,"draft":82,"extension":83,"image":271,"imageAlt":85,"imageCredit":86,"imageCreditUrl":87,"imageType":88,"mapArea":88,"mapLabel":88,"mapLat":88,"mapLng":88,"mapPath":88,"mapZoom":88,"meta":272,"navigation":90,"path":273,"readTime":194,"seo":274,"stem":275,"tags":276,"__hash__":278},"blog\u002Fblog\u002Fclimbing-competitions-explained-boulder-lead-and-speed.md","Climbing competitions explained: boulder, lead and speed",{"type":8,"value":205,"toc":263},[206,209,213,216,219,223,226,229,233,236,239,243,246,257,260],[11,207,208],{},"Competition climbing went mainstream when sport climbing arrived at the Olympics, and a lot of new viewers tuned in with no idea what they were looking at. Why is one climber sprinting up a wall while another hangs around studying a single move for ten minutes. The short answer is that they are doing three completely different jobs. Bouldering, lead and speed each reward a different kind of climber, and once you know what each one is testing, the whole thing becomes a far better watch.",[15,210,212],{"id":211},"bouldering","Bouldering",[11,214,215],{},"Bouldering is the close-up, problem-solving discipline. Climbers tackle short, hard problems on walls usually under five metres, with thick mats below and no rope. Each problem is a puzzle of a handful of moves, often demanding either raw power, precise body tension or a piece of unexpected sequencing that everyone in the building has to figure out on the spot.",[11,217,218],{},"In competition, climbers get a fixed time per problem and points for reaching marked holds. The big targets are the zone, a hold partway up that scores you something for getting that far, and the top, which is the full reward. Fewer attempts score better than many, so a clean first-go send beats a scrappy fifth-attempt one. Watch for the readers who solve the puzzle in their head before they touch the wall, and the moments where a single dynamic throw separates the field. Modern setting leans heavily on coordination moves, big jumps and volumes that look more like parkour than traditional climbing.",[15,220,222],{"id":221},"lead","Lead",[11,224,225],{},"Lead is the endurance and nerve discipline. Climbers tie into a rope and climb a long route, clipping the rope into quickdraws as they go, on a wall that often overhangs more and more the higher you get. They climb on sight, meaning they have never tried the route and get one go at it. A fall ends the attempt.",[11,227,228],{},"Scoring is simple: you are ranked by the highest hold you reach. Make a controlled move to a hold and you score it; touch it and fall, you might get a plus. Because everyone gets one shot at an unknown route, lead is as much a mental test as a physical one. The drama builds slowly as climbers push into the steep, pumpy top section where forearms fail and a single missed clip or rushed move sends them off. The best lead climbers pace themselves, find rests by shaking out one arm at a time, and read the sequence on the fly.",[15,230,232],{"id":231},"speed","Speed",[11,234,235],{},"Speed is the odd one out, and the easiest to follow. Two climbers race side by side up a standardised 15-metre wall set at the same angle with the same holds, the same everywhere in the world. Because the route never changes, athletes drill the exact sequence thousands of times until it is pure muscle memory. The fastest climbers reach the top in around five seconds.",[11,237,238],{},"It is a pure race. First to slap the buzzer at the top wins the heat, false starts disqualify, and a slip at speed is brutal to watch. Speed specialists tend to train almost like sprinters, and they rarely overlap with the boulder and lead crowd.",[15,240,242],{"id":241},"watching-as-a-fan","Watching as a fan",[11,244,245],{},"A few things make the spectacle easier to enjoy:",[56,247,248,251,254],{},[59,249,250],{},"In boulder, count the attempts. A flash, meaning a first-try send, is the gold standard.",[59,252,253],{},"In lead, watch the climber's breathing and how they shake out. Calm hands high on the wall usually mean a high score.",[59,255,256],{},"In speed, the clock is the whole story, and reaction time off the start matters as much as the climb.",[11,258,259],{},"At the Olympics the formats have been combined in different ways across editions, which is partly why scoring can look confusing from the outside. Strip it back to the three core disciplines and you can follow any event.",[11,261,262],{},"If watching gets you itching to try the same moves yourself, log your own sessions and track how your bouldering grades or lead endurance shift over a season. Seeing your progress written down makes the pros on screen feel a little less superhuman.",{"title":72,"searchDepth":73,"depth":73,"links":264},[265,266,267,268],{"id":211,"depth":73,"text":212},{"id":221,"depth":73,"text":222},{"id":231,"depth":73,"text":232},{"id":241,"depth":73,"text":242},"2026-03-06","The three competition disciplines, how scoring works, and what to watch for as a fan.","https:\u002F\u002Fimages.unsplash.com\u002Fphoto-1560539518-cc682b80c82d?w=1600&h=900&fit=crop&crop=entropy&q=80&auto=format",{},"\u002Fblog\u002Fclimbing-competitions-explained-boulder-lead-and-speed",{"title":203,"description":270},"blog\u002Fclimbing-competitions-explained-boulder-lead-and-speed",[96,97,277],"olympics","LokYSZTiE-cDlXnnjYbEpsdhkuxTcaDglrw0-IQAX80",{"id":4,"title":5,"author":6,"body":280,"category":79,"date":80,"description":81,"draft":82,"extension":83,"image":84,"imageAlt":85,"imageCredit":86,"imageCreditUrl":87,"imageType":88,"mapArea":88,"mapLabel":88,"mapLat":88,"mapLng":88,"mapPath":88,"mapZoom":88,"meta":324,"navigation":90,"path":91,"readTime":92,"seo":325,"stem":94,"tags":326,"__hash__":99},{"type":8,"value":281,"toc":318},[282,284,286,288,290,292,294,296,298,300,302,304,306,308,316],[11,283,13],{},[15,285,18],{"id":17},[11,287,21],{},[11,289,24],{},[15,291,28],{"id":27},[11,293,31],{},[11,295,34],{},[11,297,37],{},[15,299,41],{"id":40},[11,301,44],{},[11,303,47],{},[15,305,51],{"id":50},[11,307,54],{},[56,309,310,312,314],{},[59,311,61],{},[59,313,64],{},[59,315,67],{},[11,317,70],{},{"title":72,"searchDepth":73,"depth":73,"links":319},[320,321,322,323],{"id":17,"depth":73,"text":18},{"id":27,"depth":73,"text":28},{"id":40,"depth":73,"text":41},{"id":50,"depth":73,"text":51},{},{"title":5,"description":81},[96,97,98],{"id":328,"title":329,"author":6,"body":330,"category":79,"date":419,"description":420,"draft":82,"extension":83,"image":421,"imageAlt":422,"imageCredit":423,"imageCreditUrl":424,"imageType":88,"mapArea":88,"mapLabel":88,"mapLat":88,"mapLng":88,"mapPath":88,"mapZoom":88,"meta":425,"navigation":90,"path":426,"readTime":427,"seo":428,"stem":429,"tags":430,"__hash__":432},"blog\u002Fblog\u002Fthe-rise-of-climbing-from-niche-to-mainstream.md","The rise of climbing: how a niche sport went mainstream",{"type":8,"value":331,"toc":413},[332,336,339,350,354,357,384,387,391,400,403,407,410],[15,333,335],{"id":334},"from-the-fringe-to-the-feed","From the fringe to the feed",[11,337,338],{},"Not long ago, telling someone you went climbing meant explaining yourself. Were you on a mountain? With ropes? Is that not dangerous? Today most people have a friend who climbs, a gym down the road, or a memory of watching it at the Olympics. Climbing has quietly become one of the fastest-growing ways to move, and the shift has happened in barely a decade.",[11,340,341,342,349],{},"The headline moment was the Games. Sport climbing made its Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020 (held in 2021), and the timing was extraordinary — a sport that thrives indoors arriving just as the world was rediscovering exercise close to home. By ",[343,344,348],"a",{"href":345,"rel":346},"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.olympics.com\u002Fen\u002Fsports\u002Fsport-climbing\u002F",[347],"nofollow","Paris 2024"," it had grown from two medal events to four, with the athlete field expanding from 40 in Tokyo to 68. At Los Angeles 2028, the three disciplines — bouldering, lead and speed — will each become their own medal event. A sport that once lived in quarries and converted warehouses now has a permanent seat at the biggest table in sport.",[15,351,353],{"id":352},"why-it-caught-on","Why it caught on",[11,355,356],{},"The Olympics threw fuel on a fire that was already lit. Climbing was growing before Tokyo, and there are good reasons it kept going:",[56,358,359,366,372,378],{},[59,360,361,365],{},[362,363,364],"strong",{},"It does not feel like exercise."," Every climb is a puzzle. You are so busy working out the moves that the workout sneaks up on you.",[59,367,368,371],{},[362,369,370],{},"It is social by default."," You belay, you spot, you trade beta. A bouldering wall is one of the easiest places to fall into conversation with a stranger.",[59,373,374,377],{},[362,375,376],{},"The barrier to entry is low."," Hire some shoes, chalk up, and you can have a brilliant first session with zero technique. Few sports give beginners that much fun on day one.",[59,379,380,383],{},[362,381,382],{},"It scales with you."," The same wall holds a problem for your first week and a problem you will still be failing on next year.",[11,385,386],{},"That combination — playful, sociable, accessible, endlessly deep — is rare, and it travels well from city to city.",[15,388,390],{"id":389},"the-gym-boom","The gym boom",[11,392,393,394,399],{},"The clearest evidence is bricks and mortar. According to the ",[343,395,398],{"href":396,"rel":397},"https:\u002F\u002Fclimbingbusinessjournal.com\u002Fgyms-and-trends-2024\u002F",[347],"Climbing Business Journal",", which tracks the industry, North America passed 870 commercial climbing gyms in 2024, having added new ones every year for well over a decade. Most of that growth has come from bouldering-focused gyms — no ropes, no belay courses, just pads, problems and a social floor. Market analysts now value the global climbing gym market in the billions and expect it to keep growing at close to ten per cent a year.",[11,401,402],{},"New gyms bring new climbers, who bring their friends, who eventually try real rock. The indoor boom has fed the outdoor scene rather than replacing it.",[15,404,406],{"id":405},"what-it-means-for-you","What it means for you",[11,408,409],{},"A bigger sport is a better sport to be part of. There are more gyms within reach, more partners to climb with, more coaching, and far more beginner-friendly culture than the sport had twenty years ago. It also means busier walls, fuller car parks at popular crags, and a real responsibility to look after access and the places we climb.",[11,411,412],{},"For most of us, though, the boom is simply good news. Climbing is easier to start, easier to keep up, and easier to share than it has ever been. The mainstream finally caught up with what climbers always knew — that there are few better ways to spend an afternoon than figuring out how to get to the top.",{"title":72,"searchDepth":73,"depth":73,"links":414},[415,416,417,418],{"id":334,"depth":73,"text":335},{"id":352,"depth":73,"text":353},{"id":389,"depth":73,"text":390},{"id":405,"depth":73,"text":406},"2024-11-22","Climbing has gone from a fringe pursuit to an Olympic sport with gyms opening across the world. Here is what drove the boom — and what it means for everyday climbers.","https:\u002F\u002Fimages.unsplash.com\u002Fphoto-1644000452134-ea638f6f5ab9?w=1600&h=900&fit=crop&crop=entropy&q=80&auto=format","A climber on a bright indoor competition wall","Adam Bezer","https:\u002F\u002Funsplash.com\u002F@bezer",{},"\u002Fblog\u002Fthe-rise-of-climbing-from-niche-to-mainstream",7,{"title":329,"description":420},"blog\u002Fthe-rise-of-climbing-from-niche-to-mainstream",[96,277,431],"growth","bWKIttJO0VyAOvM00m5oEVW6XWTx-EznJe9pVzjbseE",{"id":434,"title":435,"author":6,"body":436,"category":79,"date":513,"description":514,"draft":82,"extension":83,"image":515,"imageAlt":516,"imageCredit":517,"imageCreditUrl":518,"imageType":88,"mapArea":88,"mapLabel":88,"mapLat":88,"mapLng":88,"mapPath":88,"mapZoom":88,"meta":519,"navigation":90,"path":520,"readTime":194,"seo":521,"stem":522,"tags":523,"__hash__":526},"blog\u002Fblog\u002Fclimbing-by-the-numbers.md","Climbing by the numbers: the sport's growth, explained",{"type":8,"value":437,"toc":506},[438,442,445,449,457,460,464,467,470,474,482,493,496,500,503],[15,439,441],{"id":440},"the-growth-in-figures","The growth, in figures",[11,443,444],{},"It is one thing to say climbing is booming and another to show it. Here are the numbers that tell the story, each from a named source so you can check them yourself. Figures move year to year, so treat these as the shape of the trend rather than gospel.",[15,446,448],{"id":447},"gyms-keep-opening","Gyms keep opening",[11,450,451,452,456],{},"The ",[343,453,398],{"href":454,"rel":455},"https:\u002F\u002Fclimbingbusinessjournal.com\u002Fgyms-and-trends-2025\u002F",[347],", which has tracked the industry for years, counted more than 870 commercial climbing gyms in North America by 2024. New gyms have opened every single year for well over a decade. Growth cooled slightly in 2025 — a few dozen net new gyms rather than the surge of the boom years — but the direction has not changed, and the same expansion has played out across the UK, Europe and Asia.",[11,458,459],{},"A striking share of that growth is bouldering. Ropeless, lower-cost to build and quick to walk into, bouldering gyms have made up the bulk of new openings in recent years. It is the format most new climbers meet first.",[15,461,463],{"id":462},"a-global-community-in-the-tens-of-millions","A global community in the tens of millions",[11,465,466],{},"Industry estimates now put the worldwide climbing community in the tens of millions of participants, with market analysts valuing the global climbing gym market at roughly three billion US dollars in 2024 and projecting growth near ten per cent a year through the early 2030s. Different reports give different totals — the methods vary — but every serious estimate points the same way: up, and fast.",[11,468,469],{},"The demographics matter too. Climbing skews young: a large majority of gym users are under 35, and most climb for fitness and fun rather than competition. This is a recreational sport first, a competitive one second.",[15,471,473],{"id":472},"the-olympic-effect","The Olympic effect",[11,475,476,477,481],{},"The clearest single milestone was the Olympics. Per ",[343,478,480],{"href":345,"rel":479},[347],"Olympics.com",":",[56,483,484,487,490],{},[59,485,486],{},"Sport climbing debuted at Tokyo 2020 (held in 2021) with two medal events.",[59,488,489],{},"Paris 2024 expanded to four medal events, and the athlete field grew from 40 to 68.",[59,491,492],{},"Los Angeles 2028 will split climbing into three separate disciplines — bouldering, lead and speed — each with its own medals.",[11,494,495],{},"Television coverage put climbing in front of audiences who had never seen it, and gyms reported waves of new members in the months that followed.",[15,497,499],{"id":498},"what-the-numbers-miss","What the numbers miss",[11,501,502],{},"Statistics capture gyms and medals, but not the quieter reasons people stay: the friend who finally tops their project, the regular Tuesday crew, the first outdoor trip. Those do not show up in a market report, and they are the real engine.",[11,504,505],{},"The takeaway is simple. Climbing is no longer niche, it is still growing, and there has never been a better time — or an easier one — to start. If you want to see your own numbers climb, logging your sessions is the place to begin.",{"title":72,"searchDepth":73,"depth":73,"links":507},[508,509,510,511,512],{"id":440,"depth":73,"text":441},{"id":447,"depth":73,"text":448},{"id":462,"depth":73,"text":463},{"id":472,"depth":73,"text":473},{"id":498,"depth":73,"text":499},"2024-07-19","Gyms, Olympic events and a global community in the tens of millions — the figures behind climbing's rise, with the sources to back them up.","https:\u002F\u002Fimages.unsplash.com\u002Fphoto-1730659071194-4c833ac5da4e?w=1600&h=900&fit=crop&crop=entropy&q=80&auto=format","Climbers on a busy indoor bouldering wall","Nathan Cima","https:\u002F\u002Funsplash.com\u002F@nathan_cima",{},"\u002Fblog\u002Fclimbing-by-the-numbers",{"title":435,"description":514},"blog\u002Fclimbing-by-the-numbers",[524,431,525],"statistics","industry","quHx87RjbytUz3qqR5mkA_zmpT4MH_5BmbNvnJUwXHE",{"id":528,"title":529,"author":6,"body":530,"category":79,"date":727,"description":728,"draft":82,"extension":83,"image":729,"imageAlt":730,"imageCredit":731,"imageCreditUrl":732,"imageType":88,"mapArea":88,"mapLabel":88,"mapLat":88,"mapLng":88,"mapPath":88,"mapZoom":88,"meta":733,"navigation":90,"path":734,"readTime":194,"seo":735,"stem":736,"tags":737,"__hash__":742},"blog\u002Fblog\u002Fthe-history-of-the-grade.md","The history of the grade",{"type":8,"value":531,"toc":720},[532,535,539,542,545,551,555,558,561,635,648,652,655,658,661,665,668,671,685,693,697,700,703,717],[11,533,534],{},"Two climbers stood under the same boulder problem can have a genuine argument about whether it is a soft touch or a sandbag, and both can be a bit right. That argument is older than either of them, older than the climbing wall, older than the sticky rubber on their shoes. Grades have been contested since the moment someone first tried to put a number on how hard a piece of rock is to climb. Understanding where the grade came from, and why there are so many competing systems, makes that number a lot less stressful and a fair bit more interesting.",[15,536,538],{"id":537},"why-grade-anything-at-all","Why grade anything at all",[11,540,541],{},"Before grades, climbers described routes in words, which worked fine when everyone knew everyone and climbed the same crag. But as climbing spread, people wanted a quick way to know whether a route was within their ability before committing to it, or whether it would kill them. A grade is, at heart, a warning and a promise: this is roughly how hard, and roughly how serious.",[11,543,544],{},"The trouble is that \"how hard\" is not one thing. A route can be hard because the moves are desperate, or because it is long and pumpy, or because a fall would be terrible, or because the rock is loose and the gear is rubbish. Different climbing cultures, in different places, cared about different combinations of those things, and so they built different grading systems. That is why we ended up with a confusing patchwork rather than one tidy scale.",[546,547,548],"blockquote",{},[11,549,550],{},"A grade was never meant to be a precise measurement. It started as one person's honest guess at how hard a thing felt, passed on to the next person as a rough heads-up.",[15,552,554],{"id":553},"a-patchwork-of-systems","A patchwork of systems",[11,556,557],{},"If you have ever been baffled by V-grades and Font grades and French sport grades and British trad grades all describing climbs, you are not alone, and the history explains it. Different systems grew up to describe different disciplines and different national traditions.",[11,559,560],{},"A rough map of the main ones you will meet:",[562,563,564,580],"table",{},[565,566,567],"thead",{},[568,569,570,574,577],"tr",{},[571,572,573],"th",{},"System",[571,575,576],{},"Mostly used for",[571,578,579],{},"Where it grew up",[581,582,583,594,604,614,625],"tbody",{},[568,584,585,589,591],{},[586,587,588],"td",{},"V-scale",[586,590,212],{},[586,592,593],{},"United States",[568,595,596,599,601],{},[586,597,598],{},"Font (Fontainebleau)",[586,600,212],{},[586,602,603],{},"France",[568,605,606,609,612],{},[586,607,608],{},"French sport",[586,610,611],{},"Roped sport climbing",[586,613,603],{},[568,615,616,619,622],{},[586,617,618],{},"British trad (adjectival plus technical)",[586,620,621],{},"Traditional climbing",[586,623,624],{},"Britain",[568,626,627,630,633],{},[586,628,629],{},"YDS",[586,631,632],{},"Roped climbing",[586,634,593],{},[11,636,637,638,642,643,647],{},"Each of these made sense in its own context. The British trad system, for instance, uses two parts, an adjectival grade for the overall seriousness and a technical grade for the hardest move, precisely because British trad cared as much about how scary and committing a route was as about the difficulty of the moves. Bouldering systems like V and Font focus purely on the difficulty of the movement, because on a boulder with a mat below, the seriousness is mostly taken out of it. If you want the practical detail of reading these, ",[343,639,641],{"href":640},"\u002Fblog\u002Fhow-climbing-grades-work-v-and-font","how climbing grades work, V and font"," and ",[343,644,646],{"href":645},"\u002Fblog\u002Fhow-rope-grades-work-french-and-yds","how rope grades work, French and YDS"," lay it all out.",[15,649,651],{"id":650},"grades-creep-upwards-over-time","Grades creep upwards over time",[11,653,654],{},"One of the more interesting things history shows is that the top of every grading scale keeps moving. When a system is invented, the hardest climb of the day sits at the top. Then someone climbs something harder, and the scale has to be extended. This has happened again and again across every discipline.",[11,656,657],{},"This open-endedness is deliberate and a bit beautiful. Nobody designing the early scales assumed they knew the limit of human climbing, so they built systems that could keep growing. The hardest grades climbed today would have been considered physically impossible by earlier generations, and the same will very likely be said of today's limits in a few decades.",[11,659,660],{},"It also means grades are not absolute across time. A given grade was calibrated against the climbing of its era, the techniques, the training, the shoes. As the sport got better at all of those, what counts as a given grade shifted subtly too. A number is a snapshot of a moment as much as a measurement.",[15,662,664],{"id":663},"the-eternal-argument-soft-stiff-and-sandbags","The eternal argument: soft, stiff and sandbags",[11,666,667],{},"Because grades started as one person's honest guess, they have always been subjective and inconsistent. The first ascensionist suggests a grade, the climbing community either agrees or argues, and over time a rough consensus settles, though it never fully settles. Some crags and areas have a reputation for being stiff, where everything feels harder than the number, and these get called sandbagged. Others feel generous, or soft.",[11,669,670],{},"This is not a flaw to be fixed, it is baked into what a grade is. A few things follow from accepting that:",[56,672,673,676,679,682],{},[59,674,675],{},"Grades vary between crags, areas and countries, sometimes by a noticeable margin",[59,677,678],{},"Indoor grades and outdoor grades rarely line up, indoors usually feels softer",[59,680,681],{},"A single climb can suit your body and feel easy, or fight your body and feel brutal",[59,683,684],{},"Old-school areas often grade harder than modern gyms, on purpose or by tradition",[11,686,687,688,692],{},"The whole tradition of sandbagging, sometimes affectionate and sometimes mischievous, is part of climbing culture. ",[343,689,691],{"href":690},"\u002Fblog\u002Fwhat-is-sandbagging","What is sandbagging"," goes into the lore of it.",[15,694,696],{"id":695},"what-the-history-should-teach-you","What the history should teach you",[11,698,699],{},"The practical lesson from all this messy history is a healthy looseness about grades. They are useful, they are not sacred. Use them to pick climbs roughly within your range and to avoid getting in over your head somewhere serious. Do not use them to measure your worth, to compare yourself against other climbers, or to have a bad day because something graded at \"your level\" spat you off.",[11,701,702],{},"A few honest reminders the history backs up:",[56,704,705,708,711,714],{},[59,706,707],{},"Your body suits some grades and styles and not others, and that is normal",[59,709,710],{},"A number from one area does not transfer cleanly to another",[59,712,713],{},"Falling off something at your grade does not mean you have got worse",[59,715,716],{},"The most satisfying climbing often ignores the number entirely",[11,718,719],{},"Grades came from climbers trying to be helpful to each other, giving a rough heads-up about what a route would ask of them. They splintered into many systems because climbers in different places cared about different kinds of difficulty, and they keep growing because nobody has found the limit. Treat the number on the topo as what it has always been, a useful, fallible, human estimate, and it stops being a source of stress and goes back to being what it was for: a friendly warning about what you are about to pull on.",{"title":72,"searchDepth":73,"depth":73,"links":721},[722,723,724,725,726],{"id":537,"depth":73,"text":538},{"id":553,"depth":73,"text":554},{"id":650,"depth":73,"text":651},{"id":663,"depth":73,"text":664},{"id":695,"depth":73,"text":696},"2024-01-05","Where climbing grades came from, why there are so many systems, and what that messy history tells us about how to treat a number on a topo.","https:\u002F\u002Fimages.unsplash.com\u002Fphoto-1764943094553-15c1bc3e1cb0?w=1600&h=900&fit=crop&crop=entropy&q=80&auto=format","A white chalk cliff face","Valentin Lacoste","https:\u002F\u002Funsplash.com\u002F@valentinlacoste",{},"\u002Fblog\u002Fthe-history-of-the-grade",{"title":529,"description":728},"blog\u002Fthe-history-of-the-grade",[738,739,740,741],"culture","history","ethics","grades","O654eYz9Ae9KX5Byt8Ow9gRTjWUjqpTMfd3eWqa7F-Q",{"id":744,"title":745,"author":6,"body":746,"category":79,"date":882,"description":883,"draft":82,"extension":83,"image":884,"imageAlt":885,"imageCredit":886,"imageCreditUrl":887,"imageType":88,"mapArea":88,"mapLabel":88,"mapLat":88,"mapLng":88,"mapPath":88,"mapZoom":88,"meta":888,"navigation":90,"path":889,"readTime":194,"seo":890,"stem":891,"tags":892,"__hash__":895},"blog\u002Fblog\u002Fwhy-climbers-obsess-over-conditions.md","Why climbers obsess over conditions",{"type":8,"value":747,"toc":873},[748,751,754,758,761,764,790,793,798,802,810,813,817,820,858,863,866,870],[11,749,750],{},"Spend a winter morning at a popular boulder and you will overhear conversations that sound borderline unhinged to anyone outside the sport. People discussing dew points. Someone holding a hand up to feel the breeze and announcing the friction is \"coming in\". A pair driving forty minutes to a different aspect of hillside because the sun has just crept onto the one they were at. To an outsider it looks like superstition. To a climber it is simple cause and effect, because conditions genuinely change how hard a climb is, sometimes by a full grade or more.",[11,752,753],{},"This is not posturing. The physics is real, and once you have felt the difference for yourself, the obsession stops looking mad and starts looking like the only sensible response to it.",[15,755,757],{"id":756},"the-physics-behind-the-fuss","The physics behind the fuss",[11,759,760],{},"The thing climbers care most about is friction, the grip between rubber, skin and rock. Friction is not constant. It changes with temperature, humidity and how clean and dry the surface is.",[11,762,763],{},"The short version of what helps:",[56,765,766,772,778,784],{},[59,767,768,771],{},[362,769,770],{},"Cold air."," Cooler temperatures firm up the rubber on your shoes and reduce sweating on your fingertips, so both your feet and your hands grip better. There is a sweet spot, usually a few degrees above freezing, where things feel best. Go too cold and your fingers go numb and useless, which is its own problem.",[59,773,774,777],{},[362,775,776],{},"Low humidity."," Dry air keeps your skin dry and the rock dry. Humid air leaves a film of moisture on slopers and on your fingertips that turns good holds greasy.",[59,779,780,783],{},[362,781,782],{},"A bit of wind."," A light breeze dries sweat off your fingers and chalk between attempts, which is why you will see people perching on top of a boulder facing into the wind to \"dry out\" their tips.",[59,785,786,789],{},[362,787,788],{},"Sun off the rock."," Direct sun warms the holds and softens your rubber, so shaded, north-facing crags climb better on warm days. Climbers plan whole sessions around where the sun will and will not be.",[11,791,792],{},"Put those together and a slopey problem that feels impossible on a muggy summer afternoon can feel almost easy on a crisp, breezy winter morning. The moves have not changed. The friction has, and friction is most of the battle on rounded holds.",[546,794,795],{},[11,796,797],{},"Nobody is imagining it. A sloper you cannot hold at four in the afternoon in August is a different hold at nine on a frosty morning, and chasing that difference is half the game.",[15,799,801],{"id":800},"why-it-matters-more-on-some-rock","Why it matters more on some rock",[11,803,804,805,809],{},"Conditions matter on everything, but they matter most on rock and climbing styles that depend on friction rather than positive holds. Sloper-heavy bouldering on smooth sandstone is the classic example, which is exactly why the obsession runs so deep among boulderers and why somewhere like ",[343,806,808],{"href":807},"\u002Fblog\u002Fbouldering-in-fontainebleau","Font"," lives and dies by the weather. Crimpy, positive climbing is less sensitive, because a sharp edge is a sharp edge whether it is warm or cold, though even there your skin and shoe rubber still perform better when it is cool and dry.",[11,811,812],{},"This is also why outdoor climbers seem to vanish in high summer and reappear, full of energy, when the temperature drops in autumn. The \"season\" for hard friction-dependent projects is often the cold months, which feels backwards to anyone used to summer being the time for outdoor sport.",[15,814,816],{"id":815},"using-conditions-without-losing-the-plot","Using conditions without losing the plot",[11,818,819],{},"You do not need to become a weather obsessive to benefit from this. A few habits go a long way.",[821,822,823,829,835,841,852],"ol",{},[59,824,825,828],{},[362,826,827],{},"Check the forecast for temperature and humidity, not just rain."," A dry but muggy day can climb worse than a cold, clear one.",[59,830,831,834],{},[362,832,833],{},"Pick your crag by aspect."," On a warm day, head somewhere shaded. On a cold, sunny day, a sunny crag can be perfect and even pleasant.",[59,836,837,840],{},[362,838,839],{},"Time it."," Early mornings and evenings are often cooler and less humid than the middle of the day.",[59,842,843,846,847,851],{},[362,844,845],{},"Manage your skin and chalk."," Dry your tips in the breeze between burns, brush the holds, and chalk up properly. Good ",[343,848,850],{"href":849},"\u002Fblog\u002Fbrushes-and-skin-care-for-climbers","brushes and skin care for climbers"," habits help you make the most of whatever conditions you get.",[59,853,854,857],{},[362,855,856],{},"Save your hardest efforts for the best window."," If you have a project, put your real attempts into the coldest, driest, breeziest part of the day and warm up or do easier volume the rest of the time.",[859,860,862],"h3",{"id":861},"indoors-it-still-applies","Indoors, it still applies",[11,864,865],{},"Even at the wall, conditions are not nothing. A busy, sweaty session on a warm summer evening, with everyone's hands greasing up the holds, climbs harder than a quiet cold morning. You cannot control the gym's weather, but you can notice it, climb your hardest when the place is cool and quiet, and stop blaming yourself for an off day that was partly the air.",[15,867,869],{"id":868},"the-honest-takeaway","The honest takeaway",[11,871,872],{},"The obsession with conditions is not pretension, it is a rational response to the fact that the same climb can feel like two different climbs depending on the air. You do not have to live by the dew point. But a little awareness, picking cooler, drier, breezier windows for your hardest efforts and choosing the right crag for the day, will quietly hand you grades you thought you were not ready for. And on the days when nothing sticks and the holds feel like glass, it is genuinely comforting to look at a muggy sky and know it is not just you. Sometimes the friction simply is not there, and the right move is to enjoy the day and come back when it is.",{"title":72,"searchDepth":73,"depth":73,"links":874},[875,876,877,881],{"id":756,"depth":73,"text":757},{"id":800,"depth":73,"text":801},{"id":815,"depth":73,"text":816,"children":878},[879],{"id":861,"depth":880,"text":862},3,{"id":868,"depth":73,"text":869},"2023-11-03","Temperature, humidity and a breath of wind can change a climb by a full grade. Here is why climbers fuss over conditions, and how to use them in your own climbing.","https:\u002F\u002Fimages.unsplash.com\u002Fphoto-1762696450375-56cc37285db5?w=1600&h=900&fit=crop&crop=entropy&q=80&auto=format","A large rock formation against the sky","Samantha Walters","https:\u002F\u002Funsplash.com\u002F@sjw_84",{},"\u002Fblog\u002Fwhy-climbers-obsess-over-conditions",{"title":745,"description":883},"blog\u002Fwhy-climbers-obsess-over-conditions",[738,739,740,893,894],"conditions","outdoor","-3gjwz1fYkXqwiSDSftC0CSpl-XBwcUyhvdEwtFMtEc",{"id":897,"title":898,"author":6,"body":899,"category":79,"date":1090,"description":1091,"draft":82,"extension":83,"image":1092,"imageAlt":1093,"imageCredit":1094,"imageCreditUrl":1095,"imageType":88,"mapArea":88,"mapLabel":88,"mapLat":88,"mapLng":88,"mapPath":88,"mapZoom":88,"meta":1096,"navigation":90,"path":1097,"readTime":92,"seo":1098,"stem":1099,"tags":1100,"__hash__":1102},"blog\u002Fblog\u002Fthe-unwritten-rules-of-the-bouldering-mat.md","The unwritten rules of the bouldering mat",{"type":8,"value":900,"toc":1083},[901,904,907,911,914,917,931,934,938,941,946,949,985,989,992,995,1049,1053,1056,1070,1073,1077,1080],[11,902,903],{},"Walk into a bouldering area for the first time and it looks like glorious chaos. People sprawled on the mats, others walking under climbers mid-move, someone lying flat staring up at a problem as if they have lost something. There is no obvious queue, no signs, no marshal blowing a whistle. And yet it mostly works, because there is a whole set of unwritten rules that regulars follow without thinking. The trouble is nobody tells you what they are, so newcomers stumble into them by accident and feel embarrassed for no good reason.",[11,905,906],{},"So here is the rulebook nobody hands you. None of this is officially written down, but break it and you will get the looks. Follow it and you will fit in within one session.",[15,908,910],{"id":909},"the-space-under-a-climber-is-sacred","The space under a climber is sacred",[11,912,913],{},"The single most important rule: do not walk, sit, lie or stand under someone who is climbing. The area beneath an active climber is their landing zone, and if they fall, that is where they go. It is the most common newbie mistake and the one that actually causes injuries.",[11,915,916],{},"Before you cross a mat, glance up. If someone is on the wall, wait or go round. If you are not sure whether they are about to pull on, just ask. Climbers expect this and nobody minds the question.",[56,918,919,922,925,928],{},[59,920,921],{},"Look up before you step onto any mat.",[59,923,924],{},"Never cut across the fall zone of someone mid-problem.",[59,926,927],{},"If you are resting, do it at the edge of the mat, not slap in the middle of the landing area.",[59,929,930],{},"Keep your bag, water bottle and brush off the mats entirely.",[11,932,933],{},"That last one matters more than it sounds. A water bottle left on the matting is an ankle waiting to be broken when someone drops onto it. Bags go on the racks or against the wall, never on the floor where people land.",[15,935,937],{"id":936},"brushing-beta-and-taking-turns","Brushing, beta and taking turns",[11,939,940],{},"There is no formal queue at a boulder problem, but there is an understood rhythm. People take turns, give each other space, and read the room.",[546,942,943],{},[11,944,945],{},"The unspoken etiquette is simple: have your go, then step well back and let others have theirs. The person who monopolises a problem for twenty minutes while three people wait is the one everybody quietly resents.",[11,947,948],{},"A few norms around sharing problems:",[821,950,951,957,968,979],{},[59,952,953,956],{},[362,954,955],{},"Step back between goes."," After your attempt, move off the mat and out of the way so the next person can climb. Resting in the landing zone while you catch your breath blocks everyone.",[59,958,959,962,963,967],{},[362,960,961],{},"Do not spray beta uninvited."," Telling someone exactly how to do a problem they did not ask about robs them of the fun of working it out. Offer once if they seem stuck, then leave them to it. There is more on this in ",[343,964,966],{"href":965},"\u002Fblog\u002Fwhat-beta-really-means","what beta really means",".",[59,969,970,973,974,978],{},[362,971,972],{},"Brush the holds when they get gunky,"," especially after a sweaty go, and re-chalk for the next person rather than leaving a slick mess. A ",[343,975,977],{"href":976},"\u002Fblog\u002Fbrushes-the-most-underrated-tool","brush is the most underrated tool"," for keeping shared problems honest.",[59,980,981,984],{},[362,982,983],{},"Do not hog a problem when it is busy."," If a queue forms, alternate goes rather than running lap after lap.",[15,986,988],{"id":987},"spotting-and-the-social-side","Spotting and the social side",[11,990,991],{},"Spotting is the act of standing behind a climber ready to steer their fall onto the mat and away from awkward landings, particularly on highball problems or topouts. Indoors with thick matting it is less critical, but outdoors and on tall problems it matters a lot. The etiquette is to offer, not impose.",[11,993,994],{},"If someone looks like they are about to commit to a high move and there is no one behind them, a quick \"want a spot?\" is welcome. Equally, do not grab someone mid-climb without asking, you can put them off badly. When you do spot, your job is to protect their head and steer them onto the pads, not to catch them like a falling sack of spuds.",[562,996,997,1007],{},[565,998,999],{},[568,1000,1001,1004],{},[571,1002,1003],{},"Situation",[571,1005,1006],{},"Good etiquette",[581,1008,1009,1017,1025,1033,1041],{},[568,1010,1011,1014],{},[586,1012,1013],{},"Someone topping out high",[586,1015,1016],{},"Offer a spot before they start",[568,1018,1019,1022],{},[586,1020,1021],{},"You are spotting",[586,1023,1024],{},"Watch their hips, steer onto the mat",[568,1026,1027,1030],{},[586,1028,1029],{},"You want to climb their problem",[586,1031,1032],{},"Wait for them to finish and step back",[568,1034,1035,1038],{},[586,1036,1037],{},"You finished your go",[586,1039,1040],{},"Move off the mat promptly",[568,1042,1043,1046],{},[586,1044,1045],{},"Outdoor session, shared pads",[586,1047,1048],{},"Ask before flinging your pad down on theirs",[15,1050,1052],{"id":1051},"the-little-things-that-mark-you-out","The little things that mark you out",[11,1054,1055],{},"Beyond safety, there is a layer of social courtesy that experienced climbers follow on autopilot. None of it is hard, it is mostly just paying attention to the people around you.",[56,1057,1058,1061,1064,1067],{},[59,1059,1060],{},"Keep the noise reasonable. A bit of encouragement is great, blasting music from a speaker in a shared space is not.",[59,1062,1063],{},"Do not sit on the mat lacing your shoes in the middle of a busy landing zone. Find a corner.",[59,1065,1066],{},"Celebrate other people's sends. A genuine \"nice one\" when a stranger tops their project is part of what makes the bouldering area a good place to be.",[59,1068,1069],{},"If you are filming yourself, make sure your tripod and your filming are not blocking the problem or the landing.",[11,1071,1072],{},"These small habits are how the place stays friendly. The bouldering area runs on a kind of casual mutual respect, and the climbers who get it right are the ones who keep half an eye on everyone else rather than tunnelling on their own session.",[15,1074,1076],{"id":1075},"you-will-get-it-quickly","You will get it quickly",[11,1078,1079],{},"If all this feels like a lot to remember, relax. Nobody expects a first-timer to have it nailed, and the climbing community is generally forgiving of honest mistakes. Watch what the regulars do, keep off the landing zones, take your turn, and ask when you are unsure. Within a session or two it becomes second nature and you stop thinking about it.",[11,1081,1082],{},"The whole point of these unwritten rules is to keep a busy, shared, slightly dangerous space safe and pleasant for everyone in it. Get them right and you become part of what makes a good bouldering area good. That is a far nicer thing to be than the person standing in the fall zone wondering why everyone is staring. Look up, step back, and enjoy it.",{"title":72,"searchDepth":73,"depth":73,"links":1084},[1085,1086,1087,1088,1089],{"id":909,"depth":73,"text":910},{"id":936,"depth":73,"text":937},{"id":987,"depth":73,"text":988},{"id":1051,"depth":73,"text":1052},{"id":1075,"depth":73,"text":1076},"2023-09-01","Nobody hands you a rulebook for the bouldering area, but there are unwritten norms around space, spotting and waiting. Here is how not to be that person.","https:\u002F\u002Fimages.unsplash.com\u002Fphoto-1578886141033-b9f066572135?w=1600&h=900&fit=crop&crop=entropy&q=80&auto=format","A hiker on a trail in focus","Patrick Hendry","https:\u002F\u002Funsplash.com\u002F@worldsbetweenlines",{},"\u002Fblog\u002Fthe-unwritten-rules-of-the-bouldering-mat",{"title":898,"description":1091},"blog\u002Fthe-unwritten-rules-of-the-bouldering-mat",[738,739,740,1101,211],"etiquette","_9QRrhmjJ1J5WgjT9qVk0HlXaOCH39IlWujxeVtWyGc",{"id":1104,"title":1105,"author":6,"body":1106,"category":79,"date":1234,"description":1235,"draft":82,"extension":83,"image":1236,"imageAlt":1237,"imageCredit":1238,"imageCreditUrl":1239,"imageType":88,"mapArea":88,"mapLabel":88,"mapLat":88,"mapLng":88,"mapPath":88,"mapZoom":88,"meta":1240,"navigation":90,"path":1241,"readTime":92,"seo":1242,"stem":1243,"tags":1244,"__hash__":1246},"blog\u002Fblog\u002Fcompetition-climbing-a-quick-primer.md","Competition climbing, a quick primer",{"type":8,"value":1107,"toc":1226},[1108,1111,1115,1118,1123,1133,1138,1143,1147,1150,1158,1162,1165,1185,1188,1192,1195,1202,1206,1209,1223],[11,1109,1110],{},"Climbing turned up at the Olympics and a lot of people who had never thought about competitions suddenly found themselves shouting at a screen, not entirely sure what they were watching. Why does the climber get a few minutes to stand and stare at the wall before touching it. What is that buzzer. Why is one of them sprinting up a wall while another is delicately balancing on a sloper. If the scoring has ever baffled you, this is the quick primer to make it all click.",[15,1112,1114],{"id":1113},"the-three-disciplines","The three disciplines",[11,1116,1117],{},"Competition climbing splits into three formats, and they reward almost opposite skills. Understanding the three is the key to following any comp.",[11,1119,1120,1122],{},[362,1121,212],{}," is short, hard problems on a wall a few metres high with mats below, no rope. Climbers get a set time on each problem and try to reach the top, with a marked zone or hold partway up worth partial credit. It rewards power, problem-solving and the ability to read a sequence quickly. It is the discipline most like what you do at your local bouldering gym.",[11,1124,1125,1127,1128,1132],{},[362,1126,222],{}," is a single long route, climbed on a rope, that almost nobody is expected to finish. Each climber gets one go and is scored on the highest hold they reach before falling. It rewards endurance and nerve, the ability to keep moving when your forearms are screaming. Our piece on ",[343,1129,1131],{"href":1130},"\u002Fblog\u002Fwhy-your-forearms-blow-up-and-what-to-do","why your forearms blow up, and what to do"," explains the pump that decides most lead comps.",[11,1134,1135,1137],{},[362,1136,232],{}," is the odd one out. Two climbers race up identical routes side by side on the same standardised wall, which never changes. It is pure explosive sprinting, decided in seconds, and it is a genuinely different sport from the other two.",[546,1139,1140],{},[11,1141,1142],{},"The disciplines reward such different things that being world-class at all three at once is almost unheard of. A boulderer and a speed specialist are barely doing the same activity.",[15,1144,1146],{"id":1145},"what-is-going-on-with-the-staring","What is going on with the staring",[11,1148,1149],{},"The thing that puzzles new viewers most is the period before a bouldering climber touches the wall. In a comp, climbers usually do not get to watch each other, and they do not get practice goes. They walk out, see the problem for the first time, and have to work out the sequence in their head before they climb. That quiet staring is them reading the boulder, planning where their hands and feet will go.",[11,1151,1152,1153,1157],{},"This is a skill in itself, and it is one you can practise at your own wall. Working out the moves before you pull on is called reading, and our guide to ",[343,1154,1156],{"href":1155},"\u002Fblog\u002Freading-a-boulder-before-you-pull-on","reading a boulder before you pull on"," covers how the pros do it. In a comp, getting the read wrong can cost you the round before you have even started climbing.",[15,1159,1161],{"id":1160},"how-the-scoring-works","How the scoring works",[11,1163,1164],{},"Scoring has changed over the years and varies between formats, but the principles are simple enough to follow.",[56,1166,1167,1173,1179],{},[59,1168,1169,1172],{},[362,1170,1171],{},"In bouldering,"," you score for reaching the top and for reaching the zone hold partway up. Fewer attempts is better, so topping first go beats topping on your fifth try. The buzzer or signal marks the end of your time on a problem.",[59,1174,1175,1178],{},[362,1176,1177],{},"In lead,"," your score is simply the highest hold you control before falling or running out of time. Hold a move that the next climber falls on, and you win the round.",[59,1180,1181,1184],{},[362,1182,1183],{},"In speed,"," it is whoever touches the buzzer at the top first. Times are measured to hundredths of a second.",[11,1186,1187],{},"When the overall results combine more than one discipline, the formats are weighted together, which is why a brilliant boulderer can still win overall despite a weaker lead round.",[15,1189,1191],{"id":1190},"why-comps-are-worth-a-watch","Why comps are worth a watch",[11,1193,1194],{},"Even if you never plan to enter one, watching good climbers compete is a quietly brilliant way to learn. You see how the best in the world read a problem, how they rest mid-route, how they stay calm when it goes wrong. You pick up beta you can steal for your own climbing, and you start to see technique you can copy at your local wall.",[11,1196,1197,1198,1201],{},"There is a culture side too. Comp climbing has its own etiquette, its own legends and its own running arguments about route setting and scoring, much like the wider sport. If you enjoy the history of how climbing got here, ",[343,1199,1200],{"href":734},"the history of the grade"," is a good companion read.",[859,1203,1205],{"id":1204},"fancy-having-a-go","Fancy having a go",[11,1207,1208],{},"You do not need to be elite to enter a competition. Most gyms run friendly local comps with categories for every level, and they are some of the best fun you can have at a wall. A few pointers if you fancy it:",[56,1210,1211,1214,1217,1220],{},[59,1212,1213],{},"Pick a comp with a beginner or social category. The grading is set so everyone gets problems they can do.",[59,1215,1216],{},"Treat it as a fun session with a scorecard, not a test. The pressure is only what you bring to it.",[59,1218,1219],{},"Watch how other people read the problems. You will learn loads in a single afternoon.",[59,1221,1222],{},"Bring a mate. Local comps are far more about the atmosphere than the result.",[11,1224,1225],{},"Competition climbing looks intimidating from the outside and is surprisingly welcoming once you are in it. Whether you watch the World Cup with a proper understanding of the scoring, or rock up to your gym's monthly fun comp, knowing the formats turns a confusing spectacle into something you can actually enjoy. Give a local one a go. Worst case, you have a laugh and learn a few new problems.",{"title":72,"searchDepth":73,"depth":73,"links":1227},[1228,1229,1230,1231],{"id":1113,"depth":73,"text":1114},{"id":1145,"depth":73,"text":1146},{"id":1160,"depth":73,"text":1161},{"id":1190,"depth":73,"text":1191,"children":1232},[1233],{"id":1204,"depth":880,"text":1205},"2023-06-30","Boulder, lead and speed, what the formats are and how comps actually work, for anyone who fancies watching or having a go.","https:\u002F\u002Fimages.unsplash.com\u002Fphoto-1602842900683-0040b9be5dfe?w=1600&h=900&fit=crop&crop=entropy&q=80&auto=format","A climber on a brown rock face","omid armin","https:\u002F\u002Funsplash.com\u002F@itsomidarmin",{},"\u002Fblog\u002Fcompetition-climbing-a-quick-primer",{"title":1105,"description":1235},"blog\u002Fcompetition-climbing-a-quick-primer",[738,739,740,1245],"competition","AqTEFPoIzpNrvuaa39vR3GQYs7687vP5YvQlFDEBmhM",{"id":1248,"title":1249,"author":6,"body":1250,"category":79,"date":1397,"description":1398,"draft":82,"extension":83,"image":1399,"imageAlt":1400,"imageCredit":1401,"imageCreditUrl":1402,"imageType":88,"mapArea":88,"mapLabel":88,"mapLat":88,"mapLng":88,"mapPath":88,"mapZoom":88,"meta":1403,"navigation":90,"path":1404,"readTime":194,"seo":1405,"stem":1406,"tags":1407,"__hash__":1409},"blog\u002Fblog\u002Fclimbing-films-worth-your-evening.md","Climbing films worth your evening",{"type":8,"value":1251,"toc":1390},[1252,1255,1258,1262,1265,1268,1271,1275,1278,1291,1295,1298,1303,1309,1313,1316,1370,1373,1377,1384,1387],[11,1253,1254],{},"It is a wet Tuesday in November, your fingers are too trashed to hang off anything, and the forecast for the weekend is grim. This is prime climbing-film weather. There is something about watching other people climb hard on a screen that scratches the itch when you cannot get on rock yourself, and a good climbing film does more than show impressive moves. The best of them are about obsession, fear, friendship and the strange logic of dedicating your life to going up rocks.",[11,1256,1257],{},"Climbing has produced a surprising amount of good cinema, partly because the sport is so visual and partly because the people who make these films are usually climbers themselves. What follows is not a definitive ranking, because that would be silly and everyone's taste differs. It is more a tour of the kinds of climbing film out there, and why you might pick one over another on a given evening.",[15,1259,1261],{"id":1260},"the-famous-big-wall-documentaries","The famous big-wall documentaries",[11,1263,1264],{},"You probably know the headliners already. The free-solo films and the big El Capitan documentaries broke out of the climbing world entirely and got watched by people who have never touched a hold. They earned that audience. The cinematography is extraordinary, the tension is real, and they do a good job of explaining the stakes to a non-climbing partner without boring the climbers in the room.",[11,1266,1267],{},"What makes them work is not the climbing itself, oddly, but the human story wrapped around it. The training, the relationships strained by risk, the years of preparation behind a single day on the wall. If you want to get a sceptical friend or partner interested in why you spend your weekends covered in chalk, these are the ones to put on first. They translate.",[11,1269,1270],{},"The flip side is that they can give a slightly skewed picture of what climbing is. Free soloing a 3,000-foot wall is to most climbing what Formula 1 is to your commute. Brilliant to watch, not remotely representative of the everyday thing.",[15,1272,1274],{"id":1273},"the-bouldering-and-sport-films","The bouldering and sport films",[11,1276,1277],{},"For something closer to the climbing most of us actually do, the bouldering and sport films are where it is at. These tend to follow strong climbers working hard projects over months or years, the redpoint grind, the repeated failures, the eventual send. The drama is smaller in scale and, for a working climber, often more relatable. You have failed on a project too, just at a different grade.",[11,1279,1280,1281,1285,1286,1290],{},"These films are also where you see technique worth stealing. Watch how the best climbers use their feet, how still and quiet their movement is, how they rest mid-route. There is a lot to learn from them, which is a theme we pick up in ",[343,1282,1284],{"href":1283},"\u002Fblog\u002Fwhat-we-can-learn-from-how-the-pros-train","what we can learn from how the pros train"," and in ",[343,1287,1289],{"href":1288},"\u002Fblog\u002Ffootwork-lessons-from-the-best-climbers","footwork lessons from the best climbers",". A climbing film can double as a coaching session if you watch it with half an eye on the movement rather than just the result.",[15,1292,1294],{"id":1293},"the-quiet-weird-and-historical-gems","The quiet, weird and historical gems",[11,1296,1297],{},"Beyond the polished documentaries there is a whole world of smaller films, and these are often the ones that stick with you. Older footage of climbing's pioneers, grainy and strange, showing people doing remarkable things in hilariously bad gear. Films about a single crag, or a single eccentric climber, or a community rather than a star.",[546,1299,1300],{},[11,1301,1302],{},"The big films show you what is possible. The small films remind you why anyone bothers, which is often more interesting.",[11,1304,1305,1306,1308],{},"This category is also where you absorb the sport's history and ethics almost by accident. You learn where grades came from, how attitudes to bolting and chipping have shifted, why certain crags carry the weight they do. If that side appeals, it pairs well with reading like ",[343,1307,1200],{"href":734},", which covers the same lineage in print.",[15,1310,1312],{"id":1311},"how-to-pick-for-the-evening-you-are-having","How to pick for the evening you are having",[11,1314,1315],{},"Different films suit different moods. Here is a rough guide to matching the film to your evening, and your company.",[562,1317,1318,1328],{},[565,1319,1320],{},[568,1321,1322,1325],{},[571,1323,1324],{},"You want to...",[571,1326,1327],{},"Watch the kind of film that...",[581,1329,1330,1338,1346,1354,1362],{},[568,1331,1332,1335],{},[586,1333,1334],{},"Convert a non-climbing friend",[586,1336,1337],{},"Has a famous big-wall story and high drama",[568,1339,1340,1343],{},[586,1341,1342],{},"Get fired up to train",[586,1344,1345],{},"Follows a hard redpoint project to the send",[568,1347,1348,1351],{},[586,1349,1350],{},"Learn movement and footwork",[586,1352,1353],{},"Lingers on technical bouldering and sport climbing",[568,1355,1356,1359],{},[586,1357,1358],{},"Understand the sport's roots",[586,1360,1361],{},"Digs into history, ethics and old footage",[568,1363,1364,1367],{},[586,1365,1366],{},"Just relax and feel the stoke",[586,1368,1369],{},"Is more travelogue than competition, all landscape",[11,1371,1372],{},"The mistake people make is putting on a tense free-solo film when what they actually wanted was a cosy travelogue. Match the film to the mood and you will enjoy it far more.",[15,1374,1376],{"id":1375},"watching-critically-not-just-passively","Watching critically, not just passively",[11,1378,1379,1380,967],{},"One small habit makes climbing films better. Watch with a question in mind. On a footwork-focused viewing, mute the inspirational music and just watch the feet. On a mindset viewing, pay attention to how the climber talks to themselves before a hard go, and how they handle falling off. There is real, practical stuff in there if you look for it, the same calm-under-pressure that we dig into for the rest of us in ",[343,1381,1383],{"href":1382},"\u002Fblog\u002Fclimbing-and-mental-health","climbing and mental health",[11,1385,1386],{},"It is also worth keeping a slightly critical eye on the gloss. Films are edited to build tension and triumph, which means the years of tedious training and the boring failed sessions get compressed into a montage. Real progress is mostly those boring sessions, and no film can quite capture how long they take. Enjoy the stoke, but do not let the highlight reel make your own grindy Tuesday session feel like failure.",[11,1388,1389],{},"So put the kettle on, ignore the rain, and pick something that matches your mood. Whether you come away inspired to project harder, fascinated by the sport's history, or just quietly chuffed to be part of this slightly daft pastime, an evening with a good climbing film is rarely wasted. And the rock will still be there when the weather turns.",{"title":72,"searchDepth":73,"depth":73,"links":1391},[1392,1393,1394,1395,1396],{"id":1260,"depth":73,"text":1261},{"id":1273,"depth":73,"text":1274},{"id":1293,"depth":73,"text":1294},{"id":1311,"depth":73,"text":1312},{"id":1375,"depth":73,"text":1376},"2023-04-28","A guide to the climbing films worth settling in for, from the famous big-wall documentaries to the quieter, weirder gems, and what each one gets right.","https:\u002F\u002Fimages.unsplash.com\u002Fphoto-1701732375270-544f754f1e22?w=1600&h=900&fit=crop&crop=entropy&q=80&auto=format","A climber with a backpack on a mountain","Chaewool Kim","https:\u002F\u002Funsplash.com\u002F@koreandirtbag",{},"\u002Fblog\u002Fclimbing-films-worth-your-evening",{"title":1249,"description":1398},"blog\u002Fclimbing-films-worth-your-evening",[738,739,740,1408],"film","v_s-Z4DMIUJYxQL9io_l5FsiHDxRqlS81VhITNCX0t0",{"id":1411,"title":1412,"author":6,"body":1413,"category":79,"date":1555,"description":1556,"draft":82,"extension":83,"image":1557,"imageAlt":1558,"imageCredit":1559,"imageCreditUrl":1560,"imageType":88,"mapArea":88,"mapLabel":88,"mapLat":88,"mapLng":88,"mapPath":88,"mapZoom":88,"meta":1561,"navigation":90,"path":1562,"readTime":92,"seo":1563,"stem":1564,"tags":1565,"__hash__":1566},"blog\u002Fblog\u002Fthe-ethics-of-cleaning-a-route.md","The ethics of cleaning a route",{"type":8,"value":1414,"toc":1547},[1415,1418,1421,1425,1428,1431,1435,1438,1458,1465,1470,1474,1477,1483,1489,1495,1499,1502,1505,1508,1522,1526,1529,1537,1541,1544],[11,1416,1417],{},"A brush across a chalky hold seems like the most harmless thing in the world. And usually it is. But cleaning a route sits on a surprisingly contested patch of ground in climbing culture, because the line between tidying up after yourself and altering the rock to suit you is blurrier than it looks. Pull too hard on that thread and you end up in a genuine argument about what climbing even is.",[11,1419,1420],{},"This is one of those topics where reasonable, experienced climbers disagree. So rather than handing down rules, let me lay out where the broad consensus sits, where it gets murky, and how to stay on the right side of it.",[15,1422,1424],{"id":1423},"why-we-clean-at-all","Why we clean at all",[11,1426,1427],{},"Cleaning serves two purposes. The first is practical: chalk build-up makes holds slick and greasy, so a brush restores the friction the rock had before a hundred sweaty hands got on it. The second is courtesy, both to the rock and to the next climber. A boulder caked in chalk tick marks is uglier and, ironically, often harder to read.",[11,1429,1430],{},"Done well, brushing is maintenance. You are returning the hold to roughly the state nature left it in. Almost nobody objects to that. The problems start when cleaning stops being maintenance and becomes modification.",[15,1432,1434],{"id":1433},"the-clear-stuff","The clear stuff",[11,1436,1437],{},"Some of this is settled. You will not find many people arguing the other side:",[56,1439,1440,1446,1452],{},[59,1441,1442,1445],{},[362,1443,1444],{},"Brush off your chalk and tick marks before you leave."," Tick marks are the chalk smudges climbers add to spot footholds. They are fine to use, but rubbing them off afterwards is basic etiquette. Nobody wants to arrive at a classic line covered in someone else's graffiti.",[59,1447,1448,1451],{},[362,1449,1450],{},"Use a soft brush, not a wire one."," Wire brushes tear at the rock surface, especially on softer stone like sandstone and grit. Boar's hair or nylon is the standard for good reason.",[59,1453,1454,1457],{},[362,1455,1456],{},"Never brush wet or damp rock."," Sandstone in particular is fragile when wet, and brushing it then strips the surface and weakens holds permanently. If it is damp, leave it.",[11,1459,1460,1461,1464],{},"If you want the full picture on tools, our piece on ",[343,1462,1463],{"href":976},"brushes, the most underrated tool"," covers what to carry and why the cheap wire ones are a false economy on rock.",[546,1466,1467],{},[11,1468,1469],{},"Brushing the chalk off a hold is housekeeping. Brushing the hold into a different shape is vandalism. The skill is knowing the moment you cross from one to the other.",[15,1471,1473],{"id":1472},"the-murky-middle","The murky middle",[11,1475,1476],{},"Here is where climbers fall out. A few grey areas worth thinking about honestly:",[11,1478,1479,1482],{},[362,1480,1481],{},"Clearing lichen, moss and dirt."," A brand new line often needs cleaning before it is climbable at all. Most accept this for first ascents. But there is a difference between freeing a line that was always there and scrubbing a green hillside bald in search of one. Heavy-handed garden blitzing on established crags annoys people, partly on aesthetics and partly because lichen and moss are part of the ecosystem.",[11,1484,1485,1488],{},[362,1486,1487],{},"Drying a wet hold."," Towelling off a seep on a hot day is widely tolerated. Taking a blowtorch to damp rock, which has genuinely happened, is not. Forcing conditions that nature has not provided is where a lot of people draw a hard line.",[11,1490,1491,1494],{},[362,1492,1493],{},"Persistent over-brushing."," Brushing the same popular holds session after session, year after year, slowly polishes and reshapes them. No single brush does damage, but the cumulative effect on classic problems is real. It is worth a thought before you scrub a hold that is already glassy.",[15,1496,1498],{"id":1497},"where-it-tips-into-chipping","Where it tips into chipping",[11,1500,1501],{},"The far end of this spectrum is chipping: physically altering the rock to create or improve holds. This is the cardinal sin of climbing ethics, and the consensus against it is about as close to universal as climbing gets. A chipped hold is permanent. It removes the challenge for everyone who comes after and it disrespects the climbers, sometimes generations of them, who tried the line as nature made it.",[11,1503,1504],{},"Aggressive cleaning is not chipping, but it lives on the same road. Scrubbing a sloper until it is sharper and more positive is, in effect, a slow chip. Keeping that connection in mind is a good instinct.",[11,1506,1507],{},"A rough mental checklist before you get the brush out:",[56,1509,1510,1513,1516,1519],{},[59,1511,1512],{},"Am I removing chalk and dirt, or changing the hold itself?",[59,1514,1515],{},"Is the rock dry and robust enough to take a brush right now?",[59,1517,1518],{},"Would the climber who did the first ascent recognise this hold afterwards?",[59,1520,1521],{},"Am I leaving the line cleaner and tidier than I found it, or just easier for me?",[15,1523,1525],{"id":1524},"respecting-the-place-not-just-the-rock","Respecting the place, not just the rock",[11,1527,1528],{},"Cleaning ethics are really a subset of a bigger idea: that we are guests at the crag, and access depends on us behaving like it. Aggressive cleaning, trampled vegetation and ugly tick marks are exactly the sort of thing that gets crags closed and landowners' backs up. The history of climbing access in the UK is full of areas lost and regained over how climbers treated the place.",[11,1530,1531,1532,1536],{},"If you climb outside, it is worth knowing the wider etiquette, not just the brushing side. Our guide to ",[343,1533,1535],{"href":1534},"\u002Fblog\u002Fcrag-etiquette-and-access","crag etiquette and access, the basics"," puts cleaning in its proper context alongside parking, paths and noise.",[15,1538,1540],{"id":1539},"a-simple-way-to-hold-it","A simple way to hold it",[11,1542,1543],{},"You do not need to memorise a rulebook. Carry a soft brush. Use it to clear your chalk and tick marks before you walk away. Leave wet and fragile rock alone. And when you feel the urge to make a hold a bit better, stop and ask whether you are cleaning it or changing it.",[11,1545,1546],{},"Get that instinct right and you will be the climber crags are glad to have. Brush off, tidy up, take a last look back to check the line is as you found it, and head home knowing the next person gets the climb as it was meant to be.",{"title":72,"searchDepth":73,"depth":73,"links":1548},[1549,1550,1551,1552,1553,1554],{"id":1423,"depth":73,"text":1424},{"id":1433,"depth":73,"text":1434},{"id":1472,"depth":73,"text":1473},{"id":1497,"depth":73,"text":1498},{"id":1524,"depth":73,"text":1525},{"id":1539,"depth":73,"text":1540},"2023-02-24","Where brushing ends and damage begins. A look at the unwritten rules of cleaning rock without crossing the line.","https:\u002F\u002Fimages.unsplash.com\u002Fphoto-1562725081-7afc517eca8c?w=1600&h=900&fit=crop&crop=entropy&q=80&auto=format","Grey mountains under cloud","Matthew Fournier","https:\u002F\u002Funsplash.com\u002F@mattyfours",{},"\u002Fblog\u002Fthe-ethics-of-cleaning-a-route",{"title":1412,"description":1556},"blog\u002Fthe-ethics-of-cleaning-a-route",[738,739,740,894],"I0HgkpO26JAd31O8kfkLzZTWpUpBITjRYSlo9fhZ-d0",1784277610441]