A
climbing competition, sometimes shortened to
comp, is usually held indoors on purpose built
climbing walls. There are three main types of climbing competition: lead, speed, and bouldering. In
lead climbing, the competitors start at the bottom of a route and must climb within a certain time frame, making sure to clip into pre-placed
quickdraws along the route.
Speed climbing can either be an individual or team event. The person or team that can climb a route the fastest is the winner.
Bouldering competitions consist of climbing short problems with the emphasis on number of problems completed. In the
United States, the
American Bouldering Series organizes regional and national events. , sport climbing was considered to be added to the
Olympic Games, losing out at the penultimate vote.