ABS: Anything But Speed

Via Climbing.com comes a reminder that the IFSC announced at the recent World Championships in Paris that its bid for climbing to make the 2020 Olympic Games will focus exclusively on sport climbing:

Lead is the historical and traditional climbing discipline. It is the expression of climbing most commonly perceived by the public and a popular event among climbers and non-climbers. Lead events have also the most universal representation  and is the discipline that a majority of our national federations indicated as their favorite. Lead brings athletes beyond vertical in a continuous gravity challenge, and TV experts pointed out they need the height challenge.

I would actually argue that the most common expression of climbing “perceived by the public” is speed climbing1, which is exactly why it is important that speed climbing not be the discipline of climbing that heralds the sport’s return to the Olympics.  Speed climbing is ok in the context of larger climbing competitions, but to reinforce to a global audience the incorrect notion that speed climbing is actually something any climber does would be a mistake in my opinion.

Remember kids:  speed climbing is neither.

  1. Although Alex Honnold may be pushing free soloing into the lead with the attentions he’s been getting of late

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48 Responses to ABS: Anything But Speed

  1. Jemerson September 27, 2012 at 8:49 pm #

    Speed climbing is the future and it’s unfortunate people are resistant to it. I’m being serious. I’ll respond to your email now 🙂

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    • coach September 27, 2012 at 9:03 pm #

      agreed.
      Most climbers would love to see climbing in the Olympics, and I think it would fantastic to see all three disciplines- Lead, Bouldering and Speed- pushed into the Olympics at some point.

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      • Cody Jones (@DrJones13) October 2, 2012 at 8:27 am #

        I feel also that this would give everyone but the americans a chance at more gold medals..as I feel Europeans and Asian countries would be tough to beat when the whole world is watching.

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  2. Ty Hag September 27, 2012 at 8:50 pm #

    I worry that if speed climbing is the featured event in the olympics, that climbing will get a bad wrap, much like t.v. makes it. (Not dissing on speed climbers, they are insane)

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  3. Jemerson September 27, 2012 at 9:01 pm #

    “to reinforce to a global audience the incorrect notion that speed climbing is actually something any climber does would be a mistake in my opinion.” Really? That’s not what the evidence suggests:

    http://www.climbing.com/news/details-on-womens-nose-record-el-cap-half-dome-link-up/
    http://www.climbing.com/news/speed-records-broken-on-iconic-peaks/
    http://www.climbing.com/news/the-nose-sees-a-new-female-speed-record/
    http://www.climbing.com/news/florine-honnold-set-new-nose-speed-record/

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    • Narc September 28, 2012 at 6:06 am #

      Climbing “fast” on El Cap and Half Dome is hardly the same as running up a single pitch route, something which nobody has done pretty much ever.

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      • Coach September 28, 2012 at 8:54 am #

        I agree that basically no one simply tries to race up a single pitch route, but that doesn’t seem like what we should be talking about regarding speed climbing in the Olympics right? As far as competition speed climbing goes, speed climbing is one, standardized 10 or 15 meter route- something a lot of people do. I don’t think anyone is advocating that climbers go out to the local crag and try to race each other on 5.10 single pitch sport climbs. Are people actually worried that non climbers will perceive climbing as people only racing up one particular wall if they watch it on tv? More importantly, is that the most important factor we should be focusing on?

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        • Dan September 28, 2012 at 10:25 am #

          That’s exactly what people are worried about. It already sucks having to decipher the question “do you free climb?” from non-climbers. It’ll be even more annoying when they start asking how fast I can climb.

          I would actually like to see bouldering in the olympics so more people would know that bouldering isn’t 3rd class scrambling.

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      • climb2core September 28, 2012 at 12:06 pm #

        Dan Osman, Lovers Leap.

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        • Narc September 28, 2012 at 12:06 pm #

          Exactly

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      • adc September 28, 2012 at 5:39 pm #

        uhhh haven’t you ever seen “Take it to the Limit?”

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      • Carlos Lugo September 29, 2012 at 10:58 am #

        You’ve never raced someone up sport routes in the gym?

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        • Narc September 29, 2012 at 7:12 pm #

          Nope

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          • Carlos Lugo October 3, 2012 at 3:22 pm #

            You haven’t lived.

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      • rob mulligan October 1, 2012 at 2:34 pm #

        I agree with Narc. I think a little bit of perspective can be added here. Speed has historically been the domain of the alpinists solely because in order to go faster, less gear has to be taken. Mountaineers and Alpinists have always sought out the high peaks from too very different approaches. The Nose is one of the sole exceptions solely because of what Bridwell, Long and Westbay did. Since then it’s been specifically about that route. But let’s take a closer look at the nose speed ascents: first, they don’t exclusively free climb because the summit is their sole focus (any aid is acceptable… think Honnold’s recent triple), and second, in order to go so fast, they can’t be caught on the wall in bad weather… it’s a sort of self-fullfiling prophecy, and in this case, it’s morphed into a 2 hour sprint.

        Let’s look at the speed format now used in major competitions: it’s a standardized wall where movement can be perfected not unlike a gymnastic routine, the high jump or pole vault, or anything where an athlete can train specifically to improve with exacting precision (in that light a standardized double dyno is a given for the olympics). Is this the direction we want climbing comps to go? That is the context and format that Olympics tends to prefer. If speed is accepted, most any other standardized “measure” of climbing prowess can be pushed and formalized in the Olympics and comps in general. The very beauty of free climbing is that it’s a very complex form of movement that has to executed on the fly, so to speak.

        That said, the only other speed free climbing I’ve personally seen is to train on sport routes and plastic simulation environs for improving specific movement paradigms.

        In the end, the question begs: do we make plastic comps a reflection of the outdoor free climbing scene, or do we allow it to morph into it’s own form of specialization? One of the big problems I see in comps as a whole is that the formats don’t fuse the outside reality with the inside simulation one. Plastic pros can be exclusive to plastic if they want… and outside senders can just keep doing what they do. But in the long run, what does that mean for support companies lend to outside climbers? Can such support be eclipsed by a greater media focus on comp climbers? Speed is definitely capable of doing that if their profile becomes very huge.

        I’ve always advocated for a rethink of the comp formats BEFORE it becomes an Olympic event because I worry as an Olympic event, it can become a fixed identity of what a climber aspires for, irrespective of outside climbing. Some say that’s good as it’ll reduce the impact on outside crags… hmmm, maybe that’s the best thing, and in that light, speed climbing is the ideal. 😉

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        • douglashunter October 1, 2012 at 3:31 pm #

          “I’ve always advocated for a rethink of the comp formats BEFORE it becomes an Olympic event because I worry as an Olympic event, it can become a fixed identity of what a climber aspires for, irrespective of outside climbing.”

          Exactly.

          “do we make plastic comps a reflection of the outdoor free climbing scene, or do we allow it to morph into it’s own form of specialization?”

          But hasn’t this already happened? I have not been to a competition in years, but on saturday I went to the ABS event at Threshold. (77 kids, coaches, and parents packed into a small gym!) I was struck by the course setting, it seems to me that the setters intentionally emphasized a specific set of movement skills that are really more a part of indoor climbing that anything else, and that aren’t developed through the movement training I would do with climbers who are training for red points or on-sight on real rock. Granted, this was only one comp. Was I seeing something out of the ordinary, or is this becoming the norm?

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  4. coach September 27, 2012 at 9:07 pm #

    Also, it should be noted that there is a growing number of climbers who ONLY speed climb (not that I am advocating this, I think this can be a recipe for killing a climbers passion) so it’s definitely incorrect to make the generalization that no climbers actually care or focus on speed climbing.

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  5. Rob G September 27, 2012 at 10:30 pm #

    Free soloing over water would be highly entertaining!

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    • Dan September 28, 2012 at 10:27 am #

      There was that one DWS comp, I think in Europe a few years back. Seemed to be a big success. Naturally no one ever tried to do it again.

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  6. Ty Hag September 27, 2012 at 10:42 pm #

    I like the idea of including all three. The hard thing with a sport such as climbing is if one area gets too much attention in the olympics, or of something of that caliber, then the other groups are left out. And in climbing, every group is so unique in its own way that it is a shame to leave them out.

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  7. PBC September 28, 2012 at 6:37 am #

    I think the speed with one climbs a route will still be an important factor. How else will the seperate ties for individuals reaching the same hold? I know its unlikely, but look at gymnastics, they have a long series of rules governing how ties get broken. Even on a 5.14c/d route for the men, and a 5.13d/14a+ route for the women, ties can happen, assuming they are judging on a by-hold method. Like every other olympic sport measured by completion of a discrete task, ties usually seem to fall to time to complete.

    Now if only they could brush down the routes between climbers as fast as they rake out the sand for long jump!

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    • Cody Jones (@DrJones13) October 2, 2012 at 8:26 am #

      I am pretty sure gymnastics was not perfect when it was first introduced into the olympics.

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  8. Cody Jones (@DrJones13) September 28, 2012 at 9:11 am #

    Gymnastics has sooo many disciplines…why can’t climbing? All the separate disciplines represent different aspects of climbing..Endurance, Power, and Speed. Whats wrong with representing all three? call it a triathlon for the climbing event. I think that would be epic enough..then have TEAMS, individual events, so on and so forth. Just remove the slow ridiculous-ness the announcers and narrators have on the sport and you have an electrifying olympic weekend. Especially the amount of adrenaline and excitement the comps bring to our small little world 🙂

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  9. Dan September 28, 2012 at 10:18 am #

    1. No climbing would be better than speed climbing.

    2. I think the most common expression of climbing “perceived by the public” is Alex Honnold.

    3. Most non-climbers will never really ‘get’ climbing anyway, so if you’re worried about what the general public thinks, you’re going to be disappointed.

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  10. Mark September 28, 2012 at 1:20 pm #

    The IOC made a big mistake. For climbing to work in the Olympics, they need the support of USA sponsors, and the sport is now bouldering by far, that is what USA sponsors might support..
    Speed is an after thought in every gym in the country for juniors. It is only practiced a few weeks before nationals. Some teams more, but not year round like lead or bouldering. The number of climbers into bouldering versus speed is continuing to grow. Most kids want to boulder that compete, as do recreational climbers. It is easy to sit and session, versus ropes, hanging, and needing a belay.
    Lead is boring to watch, paint drying, it will never work. Fast forward 8 years and think about where bouldering will be as a sport and how many more climbers and kids will be into bouldering. This was not well thought out, they should have chosen bouldering, more exciting, 20+ walls with good padding, big moves, big falls, problems completed or falls in less then a minute..

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    • sid September 28, 2012 at 9:40 pm #

      Here in the States it may be, but I assure you, none of the bouldering comps that I’ve been to have pulled in even a fraction of the audience that the lead competitions do overseas. No contest. And why wouldn’t climbing work in the Olympics without US sponsors (even though I think they will go along with lead just fine..)?

      The world’s most popular sport is soccer and there’s little mainstream US presence.

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    • Narc September 29, 2012 at 7:15 am #

      I’m not sure you’re right about that. The lead climbing World Cup circuit seems to do just fine with minimal success or involvement on the part of the US. Bouldering would certainly have been better for us since more of our athletes seem inclined to focus on it and have has some measurable success in recent years.

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  11. Chris September 28, 2012 at 1:46 pm #

    That’s too bad. I would have liked to see bouldering in the olympics. Partly because that’s what I like to do, but because of the difficulty and fun watching the competitors problem solving. Lead climbing seems to me to be primarily an endurance event while bouldering is more of a difficulty event (like gymastics routines).

    Also, are there any other sports where competitors don’t finish? I guess the high jump and pole vault events are like that, where everyone fails to clear a height at some point and the one with the highest non-failure wins.

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  12. asilva9 September 28, 2012 at 5:24 pm #

    “speed climbing is neither” I don’t know if you’re trolling or serious but that’s a pretty offensive statement. A lot of my friends that are still youth climbers focus on speed, some of them year round. They’re incredibly passionate about it, and I think that they shouldn’t be treated so rudely from the climbing community.

    There’s absolutely no reason to disrespect climbers because they choose to focus on speed and you focus on “pure” climbing.

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    • Narc September 28, 2012 at 5:45 pm #

      This is all just my personal bias to be sure, but do your friends focus on speed climbing because they like it as a form of climbing or because it is an easier road to Nationals and Worlds?

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      • Coach September 29, 2012 at 6:49 am #

        Sorry Narc, but this this is the kind of comment that shows you really don’t understand speed climbing at all. I coach plenty of kids who speed climb for fun as well as for competitions. Also, the level of competitiveness in speed climbing has grown immensely lately. Anyone who has made it to Worlds over the last two years for speed climbing has EARNED it, through a great deal of hard work and months of practice. Again, fairly offensive comment.

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        • Narc September 29, 2012 at 7:19 am #

          Fair enough. I don’t understand it and I probably never will. Part of the reason I phrased my initial post the way I did was because I was curious to hear opinions like yours and asilva9’s. The last line was probably a little unnecessarily inflammatory but my original point still stands. Speed climbing is fine in the context of bigger comps, but I’m glad that it’s not the main way the sport will be presented to the public if climbing makes it into the Olympics.

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          • Coach September 30, 2012 at 3:29 pm #

            No worries. I know that speed climbing will continue to be a hard sell for a lot of climbers. Overall I am happy that the IFSC made the choice in prioritizing lead and I’m optimistic about our sports future. I wasn’t personally offended by any of the comments, and after all- this is your site and are of course free to voice your personal opinion on any matter. I’m glad these kinds of discussions occur and I think it’s healthy to have a dialogue about this within our sport. Cheers.

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        • rob mulligan October 1, 2012 at 2:42 pm #

          Coach, one can coach kids to like lots of things, but that doesn’t mean it justifies the inclusion of speed in the olympics. If a comp is fair, then the winner has earned it. That statement about making it to the worlds is irrelevant to the question.

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  13. Juniper September 29, 2012 at 2:19 pm #

    I dont think the comments were written out of disrespect. Speed climbing might be part of the climbing world, but it is definitely not the most representative, nor is it what most people who climb do. (example: In my +10 years of climbing on multiple continents I have not come across a single climber who practiced speed climbing as their primary passion). I think that is the gist of what narc is saying.

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  14. Jamie Emerson September 30, 2012 at 4:36 am #

    You didn’t qualify your statement. You wrote “any climber”.

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  15. petr September 30, 2012 at 7:35 am #

    I agree with many of you that the bouldering format tends to make more exciting comps. You get to see every climber more times, the leader of the comp can change etc etc. Better dramaturgy. But I think lead climbing has an advantage for the audience in big arenas, like in the world champs in Paris. That, and rules that are very easy to understand, might be some arguments for IOC.

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  16. kinz September 30, 2012 at 2:05 pm #

    speed climbing sucks period

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  17. sierrasteeps October 1, 2012 at 3:31 pm #

    Um…. Can I be the first on this post to suggest/hope that climbing never be in the Olympics? I know that there is a lot of buzz out there about climbing and Olympics, but why? The Olympics is a 2 week long, made for TV movie, that essentially was the world’s first reality TV show. It features some of the most obscure “sports” – there so many to chose from rhythmic gymnastics, fencing, ping-pong, etc, etc. and is mostly about human drama.
    Outdoor climbing areas are already dealing with an influx of many more climbers than in the past; mostly urban climbers who boulder and who don’t have an adequate background in how to behave in a low-impact way outside. At least in the US where Access is such a thorny issue, the idea of attracting more attention to a purely sport/competitive part of climbing seems like a terrible idea. And to those who think being in the Olympics some how adds legitimacy to our favorite past time all I can say is “Really?” Climbing is the US needs to learn how to handle it’s current new level of popularity, we don’t need more growth or attention.

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    • Dan October 1, 2012 at 5:12 pm #

      This horse has been beaten already.

      You’re probably right though, it’s only a matter of time until climbing becomes just as destructively popular as iconic olympic sports like fencing, team handball, and ping-pong.

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      • texasclimber October 1, 2012 at 6:49 pm #

        dude handball is the sh*t

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      • Sp October 2, 2012 at 1:43 pm #

        Dan- do those sports utilize public resources which were already experiencing rowd issues? Were they experiencing exponential growth prior to their inclusion in the Olympics?

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        • texasclimber October 3, 2012 at 2:25 pm #

          Competition climbing does not use public resources, as it occurs in gyms. Also, climbing is not experiencing “exponential growth”. Linear growth, perhaps. But certainly not exponential.

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    • douglashunter October 1, 2012 at 7:16 pm #

      While I am ambivalent about climbing in the Olympics, I am not sure that it will put as much pressure on our outdoor resources as we often think. It will drive more people to the gym, but from there its difficult to say. As more and better gyms are being built in urban areas its not out of the realm of the possible that Olympic climbing would have little effect on precious outdoor resources.

      But I agree with you completely that the “legitimacy” argument is pretty bogus. I’ve not really heard a well reasoned argument for why climbing needs the so called legitimacy that being in the Olympics would bring.

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      • kc October 2, 2012 at 12:16 pm #

        I agree, I work in a gym and I’m continually surprised at how many people climb exclusively indoors and even make comments like “oh no, I have no interest in climbing outside ever”. It seems to me a lot of people are getting into climbing for fitness and don’t really have the love or passion for the outdoors aspect of it. So yeah, I doubt climbing on tv would drive a lot of new people to the crags but the gym would most likely see a influx.

        And as for the debate on speed climbing. I’ve worked several comps and I can say from what I’ve seen, its the little kids who are into speed climbing. By the time they are around 14 they lose interest big time. Last June at regionals I witnessed kids who really could have cared less about it, several of the kids did the speed trials in their regular shoes and climbed at a normal pace not trying at all. Of course, some kids even at later ages will still be into speed climbing but eventually, at some point, they’re going to realize that climbing a 50ft 5.9 in 9 seconds (while, I guess, somewhat impressive) is in the long run pretty meaningless. Interestingly enough, the parents at these events go absolutely bonkers for speed climbing…

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