Is Climbing Considered A Sport? How It Checks Every Box

Climbing is only just becoming something households around the world know much about. But ever since it landed in the Olympics, I keep running into the same question: is climbing a sport, or is it just a hobby people happen to get obsessed with? So I dug into what actually makes something a sport, read through hundreds of opinions on forums and websites, and here’s what I found.

Is climbing considered a sport? To be a sport, an activity needs to involve physical exertion and skill, where an individual or team competes against another for entertainment. Climbing checks every one of those boxes.

Plenty of opinions online say climbing isn’t a sport. But when you read them, it’s pretty clear the person wasn’t familiar with climbing and didn’t understand how it meets these requirements or what the sport actually involves.

So Is Climbing A Sport? How It Checks Every Box

A sport, going by the dictionary, is any activity that involves physical exertion, skill, and an individual or team competing against another for entertainment. Here’s how climbing meets all three.

Qualification #1: Climbing Requires Physical Exertion

Climbing is all about moving your body up a vertical wall using nothing but your own strength. The wall has handholds and footholds that create extra challenges you have to solve to reach the top, and getting through them takes real physical effort.

The type of exertion depends on the type of climbing you’re doing. Here’s a quick look at the two most common disciplines:

• Sport Climbing: Sport climbing is climbing a wall at least 30 meters or higher (in competitions it’s usually higher) with a rope you carry up the route with you. This one takes a ton of endurance in the lower body, upper body, and especially the forearms.
• Bouldering: Bouldering is climbing without a rope on routes that get as high as 4 meters. These routes demand a lot of physical strength and explosive movement in the lower body, upper body, and especially the forearms. If you want to know why so many climbers fall in love with it, check out these reasons bouldering is so popular.

On top of that, climbing hits all four types of workout: aerobic (endurance) exercise, strength, flexibility, and balance. 

• A climber’s heart rate usually sits between 70 to 85% of their max heart-rate zone, which makes it a serious aerobic workout.
• Climbing means pulling and pushing your own body through the route, which is a great way to build strength using body weight alone.
• Climbing, especially in competition, asks you to stretch your hips, hamstrings, and shoulders in all directions to finish the climb.
• Climbing forces you to use balance to keep your weight close to the wall so you can finish the route without falling.

Scientific studies behind the Metabolic Equivalent of Task (MET) value scale don’t just say climbing is physically demanding. They put it right up there with the high-intensity workouts.

MET value breaks into three categories:

1. Low intensity (less than 3.0 on the MET scale), like sitting at your desk typing or watching TV
2. Moderate intensity (between 3.0 and 6.0 on the MET scale), like yard work or leisurely swimming laps
3. High intensity (greater than 6.0 on the MET scale), like running and calisthenics 

On the MET scale, climbing lands at 8.5, which means it’s been identified as requiring significant physical exertion.

Like any activity, easier climbs take less energy, and something like rappelling down a route has been measured at a 5.6 MET value, which is moderate intensity. So just like with most things, the harder you climb, the more physically demanding it gets. If you’re curious how that translates to your body, here’s a breakdown of how many calories you burn from climbing.

The fact that climbing covers all four workout types only backs up the point that it takes real physical exertion.

Qualification #2: Climbing Requires Skill

The second guideline for being a sport is that the activity takes skill. Climbing takes a lot of it, through technique and experience, to help you reach or set up for the next handhold or foothold so you can get to the top. So that box is checked too. 

To show how much skill is involved, here are a few techniques climbers use to move between holds.

• Smearing is a technique climbers use when there isn’t a foothold where they need their feet.
• Dynos are a climbing technique where you leap from one handhold to the next. It’s one of the hardest moves in climbing and takes a long time to build.
• Drop-knee is a technique that uses your feet and legs for balance and strength, positioning your body so you can reach the next hold.
• Flagging is one of the most common techniques in climbing. It helps you balance and shift your center of gravity and body position so you can reach holds in a controlled way.

On top of that, there are shelves of climbing books, blogs, videos, and clinics all built around helping climbers develop the skills they need to climb harder. And there’s a whole mental side too, which is why some people call it a mental sport as much as a physical one. That’s more proof climbing takes skill to pull off.

The harder the climb, the more skill it takes. Like a lot of activities, there are different levels. At the base level, kids as young as three can finish easy routes that don’t take much skill. But the higher the level, the more skill you need.

This leveling system is called grades in climbing. Depending on what part of the world you’re in, you might use a different grading system. 

In the United States, bouldering (a type of climbing that uses shorter routes without a rope for safety) uses what’s called the V Scale. For roped climbs like top-rope, sport, and trad climbing, a YDS scale shows how hard the climb is and how much skill it takes.

• V Scale: This shows how hard a boulder is by putting a number from 0 to 16 after the V. A V6 is significantly harder than a V0. The scale goes all the way up to V16, but very few climbers in the world have ever sent routes that hard.
• YDS Scale: This shows difficulty by starting with a 5 (meaning both hands and feet are required, so it’s not just a hike), followed by a decimal and another number from 1 to 15, plus an a, b, c, or d that breaks the grade down further. A child can often climb a 5.1, but only a handful of climbers in the world have ever finished a 5.15c.

For more on how climbing is graded, check out this article, or see the fuller breakdown of how climbing routes are graded.

Qualification #3: Climbing Has Competitions

The last requirement for a sport is that the activity has competitions where individuals or teams go up against each other for entertainment. Climbing held its first competition back in the 1980s and has since grown into local, regional, national, and world competitions and championships that run all year.

Climbing has been around since the time of cavemen, and climbing competitions go back to the 16th century, but it wasn’t until 1986 that a competition in Bardonecchia, Italy hosted the first lead climbing competition, an event called SportRoccia.

Since then, four different formats of climbing have entered the competition scene:

1. Bouldering Competitions: Most bouldering competitions have 5 boulder problems per round. Each climber gets 4 minutes per route and scores based on the number of attempts and the time it takes to finish. Whoever completes the most routes in the fewest attempts and least time wins.
2. Sport Climbing Competitions: Probably the best known climbing competition. The climber gets 6 minutes and one attempt to climb as high on the route as possible. Whoever gets the farthest, fastest, wins.
3. Speed Climbing Competitions: Speed climbing is a much newer discipline and it’s pretty controversial in the Olympics, because the skill and muscles it takes are very different from bouldering and sport climbing. The route stays the same for every competition and the climber who reaches the top the fastest wins. The men’s competition speed record is 5.47 seconds, set by Reza Alipourshenazandifar from China in 2017, and the women’s record is 6.96 seconds, set by Luliia Kaplina from Russia.
4. Ice Climbing Competitions: Similar to sport climbing rules, except ice climbing adds gear and complications that make it a completely unique competition. Ice climbing competitions don’t pull as many views as sport climbing, but they keep growing.

Over the years these competitions got split up, and local, regional, national, and international events have featured just one format at a time. But in the last decade there have been plenty of combined-format competitions that pair bouldering and sport climbing.  

These competitions pull in thousands of viewers and a lot of them get broadcast on TV. For example, ESPN broadcast the USA Climbing: Bouldering Open National Championship and the USA Combine Invitational in 2019.

Climbing debuted at the Tokyo Olympics by combining all three disciplines (bouldering, sport climbing, and speed climbing), and future Olympics are set to split speed off from bouldering and sport.

Climbers compete as individuals, but in world competitions they also represent their home country. Each country competing in the Olympics for climbing gets a maximum of four athletes, two men and two women, for a total of 40 competitors.

Unlike most countries at the Olympics, though, the USA climbing team doesn’t get any government funding and relies on companies to sponsor the team and individual climbers.

On top of the competitions, sport climbing, bouldering, and speed climbing were all added to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics (later moved to 2021), where climbing made its debut. That’s one more piece of proof that climbing has competitions held for entertainment.

If reading all this makes you want to actually get better at the sport instead of just arguing about it online, that’s kind of the whole point. Our free newsletter sends you one short climbing drill a week that you can knock out in about 15 minutes, so you keep sending harder without overthinking it. You can grab the weekly drills here.

Common Misconceptions About Climbing

While researching this, I ran into a lot of misconceptions about climbing. 

According to a survey on Debate.Org, 67% of respondents agreed climbing is a sport. But the answers arguing that it isn’t were mostly based on assumptions from people who don’t really know climbing. 

Hopefully everything above clears up most of that, but here are a few other misconceptions you might not have thought about.

All Climbing Disciplines Are Sports

Climbing is broader than sport climbing. It includes speed climbing, bouldering, trad climbing, free soloing, and more. But not every discipline is a sport. Take trad climbing: it’s an amazing activity that’s physically demanding, takes a ton of skill, and is fun to watch (almost every climbing documentary is trad), but there aren’t established competitions, so it doesn’t meet that requirement. 

The disciplines that currently have established competitions and meet every part of the definition of a sport are sport climbing, bouldering, and speed climbing.

Climbing Isn’t Entertaining

This one’s tricky because you could argue “entertaining” is subjective. But in the context of the definition of a sport, the requirement is that it’s for “entertainment,” meaning winning or losing is just for fun and there aren’t serious consequences for losing or failing.

Climbing also uses safety gear and has specific rules that make it safe for competition, so there aren’t serious consequences for losing, or in this case, falling. No one’s forced into these competitions, and for all intents and purposes, they’re for entertainment.

If Climbing Is A Sport Then All Other Outdoor Activities Would Be Categorized As Sports

The argument here is that people compare climbing to hiking or camping. But those don’t really compare, because they take different strengths and skills, not to mention different gear and knowledge. If you want to see how much climbing actually asks of your body, check out these research-backed health benefits of climbing.

Is Outdoor Climbing or Free Soloing Considered A Sport?

Some people argue that Alex Honnold’s El Capitan ascent in the famous Free Solo documentary was a race to reach the top in the fastest time, which would make it a sport. But since there weren’t clear competitors, it doesn’t count as a competition.

That doesn’t mean free soloing or outdoor climbing isn’t a sport, though. It’s a branch of the sport, just not a competitive one. 

Is Climbing In The Olympics?

Climbing debuted at the 2020 (now 2021) Tokyo Olympics. Up to two men and two women represent each country, for a total of 40 competitors. The sport showcases bouldering, sport climbing, and speed climbing.

1. Bouldering: Bouldering competitions usually give 4 minutes per set route. That’s likely the same for the Olympics, but the Olympic website says “athletes climb as many fixed routes as they can within four minutes,” which could mean they climb multiple routes in a total of four minutes. One thing that stays the same across the Olympics and World Cup competitions is that climbers can’t attempt the routes before the clock starts, and they don’t get to watch others climb them either.
2. Sport Climbing: In the Olympics they call this lead climbing. Like all world climbing competitions, each competitor takes on the over 15-meter wall. The goal is to go as high as possible without falling, and the winner is whoever makes it the farthest, fastest. One tricky part of lead climbing is that you have to bring the rope up with you and use what are called quickdraws to clip it to safety bolts along the route. In one Olympic qualification, competitor Adam Ondra accidentally stepped on a bolt and was disqualified (he later took first in another qualifier to win his spot at the Olympics representing the Czech Republic).
3. Speed Climbing: This is one of the more entertaining disciplines because each round is over in a matter of seconds. Unlike the other two, speed climbers have trained on the exact same route for decades (though some competitors have far less experience). A lot of climbers feel it’s unfair to fold this into a combined score, because it takes more memory and quick movement to get up a 15-meter wall set at a 95-degree angle. It’s since been announced that the 2024 Olympics will showcase speed as a separate event with its own medals.

Frequently asked questions

Is climbing a sport?

Yes. A sport is an activity that involves physical exertion and skill where individuals or teams compete against each other for entertainment, and climbing meets all three. It’s physically demanding (an 8.5 on the MET scale), it takes serious skill and technique, and it has established competitions all the way up to the Olympics.

Is bouldering a sport?

Yes. Bouldering is climbing without a rope on routes up to about 4 meters, and it has established competitions where climbers score based on completed problems, attempts, and time. Along with sport climbing and speed climbing, it’s one of the disciplines that meets every part of the definition of a sport.

Is free soloing a sport?

Free soloing is a branch of the sport of climbing, but not a competitive one. Efforts like Alex Honnold’s Free Solo ascent of El Capitan didn’t have clear competitors, so they don’t count as competitions. Free soloing takes exertion and skill, it just doesn’t have the organized head-to-head competition that defines the competitive side of the sport.

When did climbing become an Olympic sport?

Climbing made its Olympic debut at the 2020 Tokyo Games, which were later moved to 2021. Bouldering, sport climbing, and speed climbing were combined into one event, with up to two men and two women per country and 40 competitors total. Starting with the 2024 Olympics, speed climbing was split into its own event with separate medals.

Which climbing disciplines are considered sports?

Sport climbing, bouldering, and speed climbing are the disciplines that currently have established competitions and meet the full definition of a sport. Others like trad climbing and free soloing are still climbing and take plenty of exertion and skill, but they don’t have organized competitions, so they sit outside the competitive side of the sport.

Sara Climbing Coach, Climbing Trainer, Writer

Sara is the founder of Send Edition, author of '77 Drills to Help You Climb Better,' the creator of 'Elevate Your Climbing: Training Planner and Tracker,' and climbing coach.

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