How competition climbing works
New to comp climbing — or just here since the Olympics? This is the quick guide to the disciplines, how they're scored, and how to read the results on Crimpedia.
The disciplines
Boulder
Short, intense problems on a ~4.5 m wall over thick mats — no rope. Climbers get a fixed time to figure out and send each of several boulders. It rewards power, problem-solving and reading the moves (the "beta").
Lead
One long roped route, climbed on-sight (no practice) in a single attempt under a time limit (usually 6 minutes). You clip the rope as you go; the goal is simply to climb as high as you can. Endurance and nerve.
Speed
Two climbers race side-by-side up a standardised 15 m wall on a top-rope, knockout style. The route never changes, so it's pure reaction and power — the best men go under 5 seconds, the best women around 6. (Speed isn't tracked on Crimpedia yet.)
Combined
The Olympic format. Tokyo 2020 squeezed all three disciplines into one score (ranks multiplied — lowest wins). From Paris 2024, Speed became its own medal and the other event is Boulder & Lead combined, scored on points.
Climbing lingo
holds, moves & wallsHolds — what you grab
| Crimp | A small, thin edge held on the very fingertips, fingers bent — yes, the grip we're named after. |
| Jug | A big, friendly hold you can wrap a whole hand around (a "bucket"). The easiest kind. |
| Sloper | A rounded, edgeless bulge — held by open-hand friction and good body position, not by gripping. |
| Pinch | A hold you squeeze between thumb and fingers. |
| A hole you fit one or more fingers into — a one-finger pocket is a "mono". | |
| Edge | A flat ledge — bigger and friendlier than a crimp. |
Moves & technique
| Dyno | A dynamic leap to a hold, with the body briefly flying off the wall. |
| Mantle | Pressing down on a hold to push up over it — like climbing out of a pool. |
| Heel hook | Hooking a heel on a hold to pull with the leg or stay balanced. |
| Toe hook | Hooking the top of the toe to hold body tension, often on steep ground. |
| Flag | Swinging a leg out as a counterweight to stop you spinning off. |
| Smear | Pressing the shoe's sole onto blank wall for friction, with no foothold. |
| Lock-off | Holding still on a bent arm while the other hand reaches up. |
| Gaston | Pushing a hold outward, elbow out and thumb down — like prying apart sliding doors. |
| Drop-knee | Turning a knee down and inward, foot twisted on a hold, to lock in and gain reach on steep walls. |
| Campus | Climbing with hands only, no feet — named after the campus training board. |
Walls & terrain
| Slab | A wall leaned back from vertical — balance and footwork over power. |
| Vertical | A straight-up wall (90°). |
| Overhang | A wall past vertical that leans over you — steep, powerful, on the arms. |
| Roof | A horizontal section straight overhead. |
| Arête | An outside corner — the edge where two walls meet facing out. |
| Dihedral | An inside corner where two walls meet (a "corner"). |
Grades — and how they compare
Difficulty is graded on different scales around the world. Boulders use the Font (Fontainebleau) scale or the American V-scale; sport routes use the French scale or the American YDS (the "5. …" numbers). The conversions below are approximate — grades are a consensus, not an exact science.
| Font | V-scale |
|---|---|
| 6A | V3 |
| 6B | V4 |
| 6C | V5 |
| 7A | V6 |
| 7A+ | V7 |
| 7B | V8 |
| 7C | V9 |
| 7C+ | V10 |
| 8A | V11 |
| 8A+ | V12 |
| 8B | V13 |
| 8B+ | V14 |
| 8C | V15 |
| 8C+ | V16 |
| 9A | V17 |
Milestones: 8C Dreamtime · 9A Burden of Dreams — see Outdoor.
| French | YDS |
|---|---|
| 6a | 5.10a |
| 6c | 5.11c |
| 7a | 5.11d |
| 7b | 5.12b |
| 7c | 5.12d |
| 8a | 5.13b |
| 8a+ | 5.13c |
| 8b | 5.13d |
| 8b+ | 5.14a |
| 8c | 5.14b |
| 8c+ | 5.14c |
| 9a | 5.14d |
| 9a+ | 5.15a |
| 9b | 5.15b |
| 9b+ | 5.15c |
| 9c | 5.15d |
Milestones: 9a Action Directe (first 9a) · 9c Silence (hardest ever).
You'll also see the UIAA scale (Roman numerals, common in Germany & Austria) — roughly UIAA XI ≈ French 8b+, XII ≈ 8c+.
How scoring works
Lead
Every hold on the route is numbered from the bottom. Your score is the highest hold you control. A "+" after the number (e.g. 37+) means you held it and made a move toward the next one. Highest hold wins; ties are broken by your results in earlier rounds (countback).
Boulder
A boulder has a Top (the finish hold) and a marked Zone partway up. Through 2024, climbers were ranked by number of Tops, then Zones, then the fewest attempts needed — so "T2 Z1" means topped on the 2nd try, zone on the 1st. From 2025 the IFSC moved to a points system: each boulder is worth up to 25 points for reaching the zones and the top, with small deductions for each extra attempt — add them up across the boulders, most points wins.
Speed
Simplest of all: fastest time up the wall wins, in a head-to-head elimination bracket. Jump the start (a false start) and you're out.
How an event runs
A World Cup or Championship runs over rounds: Qualification → Semi-final → Final. The field narrows each round (typically the top ~20 reach the semi and the top 8 reach the final), and the medals are decided in that final. The three podium finishers take 🥇 gold, 🥈 silver and 🥉 bronze.
Reading the results on Crimpedia
- Each result row shows the finishing place, the discipline (Boulder / Lead), the event and the date.
- Open a competition and tap a climber's row to expand their round-by-round scorecard — the tops, zones and attempts on each boulder, or the high hold on the route.
- Spoiler protection is on by default: results stay hidden until you choose to reveal them, so you can browse freely before catching up on a replay. Toggle it with the 🙈 / 👁️ button in the top bar.
Glossary
| Top | The finish hold of a boulder — controlling it with both hands. |
| Zone | A marked hold partway up a boulder, worth partial credit. |
| Attempt / go | One try at a boulder, from leaving the ground to falling or topping. |
| Flash | Sending on the very first attempt (with beta allowed). |
| On-sight | Sending first try with no prior info — how Lead is climbed. |
| Redpoint | Sending a route cleanly after practising it — the usual way hard routes get done. |
| Beta | The sequence of moves / how to do the climb. |
| Crux | The hardest move or section of a climb. |
| Pumped | Forearms flooded and failing from effort — the "pump" that ends a hard burn. |
| Send | To successfully complete a climb. |
| Ape index | Arm span minus height; a positive number means extra reach. |
| Grades | Outdoor difficulty: boulders use the Font scale (e.g. 8A) or V-scale (V13); routes use the French scale (9a). |
See the all-time records & hall of fame →