Sport climbing

This article is about a type of rock climbing. For the Olympic and IFSC sport of lead climbing, see Competition climbing.

Sport climbing (or bolted climbing) is a type of free climbing in the sport of rock climbing in which the lead climber clips their rope—via a quickdraw—into pre-drilled in-situ bolts on the rockface for their protection as they ascend the route. Sport climbing differs from the riskier and more demanding format of traditional climbing where the lead climber—as they ascend the route—must also find places into which temporary and removable protection equipment (e.g. spring-loaded camming devices) can be inserted for their safety.

Sport climbing dates from the early 1980s when leading French rock climbers wanted to climb blanker face climbing routes that offered none of the cracks or fissures into which temporary protection equipment could be safely inserted. While bolting natural rock faces was controversial—and remains a focus of debate in climbing ethics—the safer format of sport climbing grew rapidly in popularity both for novice and advanced climbers. All subsequent technical grade milestones in rock climbing would come from sport climbing.

The safer discipline of sport climbing also led to the rapid growth in competition climbing, which made its Olympic debut at the 2020 Summer Olympics. While competition climbing consists of three distinct rock climbing disciplines—lead climbing (the bolted sport-climbing element), bouldering (where no bolts or any protection is needed as the routes are short), and speed climbing (also not bolted and instead uses a top roping format for protection)—it is sometimes confusingly referred to as "sport climbing".

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