Speed climbing


Speed climbing is a climbing discipline in which speed is the ultimate goal. Speed Climbing is done on rocks, walls and poles and is only recommended for highly skilled and experienced climbers. Some experts linked this activity to horizontal level walking and running wherein the higher the velocity, the shorter is the contact time and the higher are the reaction forces.
Competition speed climbing, which takes place on an artificial standardized climbing wall, is the main form of speed climbing, however, there are other variations of speed climbing which take place outdoors. In pure speed climbing, time is everything but it is also common to record speed ascents while observing a particular climbing style or ethic. For example, there are many speed records in which the climb was done according to free climbing ethics. In popular culture speed climbing may be best known for a viral video featuring Dan Osman climbing Lover's Leap via the Bear's Reach route in 4 min 25 sec. This clip was originally featured in the movie Masters of Stone IV.

Competition speed climbing

Competition speed climbing as governed by the International Federation of Sport Climbing takes place on 15m artificial walls. Competitors climb a 5 degree overhanging IFSC certified wall, with an auto-belaying system from the top of the wall. Since 2007 the IFSC has created a standard wall for the world record. The standard has a simple rule and it involves climbers competing on the same route, side by side, and whoever reaches the top first wins. The holds and order are always identical, and the difficulty rating is around F6b, which is a level most recreational climbers could complete. The IFSC also sanctions speed climbing competitions and those events that entail world record attempts. Speed climbing competitions is one of the three climbing modalities that will be included in Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
Time is determined by mechanical-electric timing. When mechanical-electric timing is used, the climbing time is displayed with an accuracy of one hundredth of a second. In the rules modification in 2018, the possibility to use manual timing was removed, and the mechanical-electric timing should record with a precision of 1/1000 second. This precision is only used for ranking in case of a tie. Further, the timing system needs to announce a false start, which is considered a start earlier than 0.1 seconds after the starting beep.

Standardized Speed Climbing Wall

For such competitions, the speed climbing wall has been normed by the IFSC in a way that records are comparable.

Speed Climbing World Records and Champions

The standard wall used is 15 meter tall.
As of 04/28/17, Iranian climber Reza Alipour Shenazandifar holds the men's 15 meter speed world record; 5.48 seconds. Aries Susanti Rahayu from Indonesia holds the women's record at 6.995 seconds and was the first woman to break the 7s barrier.
2018 Speed climbing World Champions are Reza Alipour from Iran and Aleksandra Rudzinska from Poland. The IFSC Climbing World Championships took place in Innsbruck, Austria.
DateTime PersonLocationCompetition
April 30, 20175.48 Reza AlipourNanjing, ChinaWorld Cup
September 12, 20145.60 Danyil BoldyrevGijon, SpainWorld Championships
August 31, 20145.73 Libor HrozaArco, ItalyWorld Cup
August 30, 20145.76 Libor HrozaArco, ItalyWorld Cup
October 13, 20125.88 Evgenii VaitcekhovskiiXining, ChinaWorld Cup
August 27, 20116.26 Qixin ZhongArco, ItalyWorld Championships

DateTime PersonLocationCompetition
October 19, 20196.995 Aries Susanti RahayuXiamen, ChinaWorld Cup
April 26, 20197.101 YiLing SongChongqing, ChinaWorld Cup
April 22, 20187.32 Anouck JaubertMoscow, RussiaWorld Cup
July 22, 20177.32 Iuliia KaplinaWroclaw, PolandWorld Games
April 30, 20177.38 Iuliia KaplinaNanjing, ChinaWorld Cup
April 23, 20177.46 Iuliia KaplinaChongqing, ChinaWorld Cup
July 11, 20157.53 Iuliia KaplinaChamonix, FranceWorld Cup
June 21, 20157.56 Iuliia KaplinaChongqing, ChinaWorld Cup
May 17, 20157.74 Iuliia KaplinaCentral Saanich, CanadaWorld Cup
October 19, 20137.85 Iuliia KaplinaWujiang, ChinaWorld Cup

Outdoor Speed Climbing

Pure speed climbing

Full speed climbing is done in such a way that maximizes speed and minimizes danger. When climbing with a partner the climbers will alternate between regular free climbing, simul climbing, aiding, and at times sections of roped soloing. Speed climbing can also be done by an individual in which they alternate between forms of rope soloing, aiding, and free soloing. Strictly speaking, this type of speed climbing is not a style but a combination or perhaps a type of aid climbing. However, the complexity of combining all the styles together leads to what can be recognized as a separate style with its own particular techniques used in no other style.
Speed climbing offers a number of benefits and these include the opportunities to stress-proof learned climbing techniques and to learn more about pacing. Pacing is important since a broad array of paces contributes to the climber's versatility to navigate crags and rock types. A faster pace for most climbers is said to be less strenuous than climbing at their normal speed.

Style climbing

Records can be recorded while climbing in a particular style. Each of the methods ultimately handicap the rate of progress with the exception of free soloing.

Free soloing

The simplest way to increase the speed of climbing is to shed all safety precautions such as belaying and placing protection. For some climbers, this is the same as replacing the strength of the rope and the safety gears with mental toughness. This leads to free soloing as rapidly as possible. While strictly speaking this qualifies as full speed climbing or a type of style climbing it is different enough to be recognized as its own category of speed climbing.

Outdoor Records

Most speed climbing records lack the standards normally associated with objective records. Hans Florine has written "I will be the first to say that climbing is silly. To make rules about it is just piling ridiculous on top of silly."
There are no sanctioned speed climbing competitions on significant rock features. Nearly all climbing goals and records are self-designed, self-timed, and self-officiated; few are well documented, and many are disputed.
The collection that follows abides by these loose standards.
Time formate either hrs:min or hrs:min:sec.

California

The Nose, El Capitan
Regular Northwest Route, Half Dome
Snake Dike, Half Dome
Joshua Tree National Park

Bastille Crack
Third Flatiron
Epinephrine
Cat In The Hat
The Gunks
Grand Traverse