As someone who’s dabbled in climbing over the last few years (initially to complement running but more recently because I’ve come to really enjoy sport climbing) I thought it was great to see climbing at the Paris Olympics last year. Initially I was surprised such a primal sport has only recently been accepted into the Olympics. I’m not a massive fan of watching sport on TV but I thought it worked quite well as a spectator sport, even if it was unrecognisable from the climbing I see when running through the Peak District on a Sunday.
However, when I mentioned it to a much more experienced friend, who identifies as a ‘proper climber’ they dismissed it as ‘grabbing bits of plastic’ which has more in common with gymnastics* than the pure climbing which originated from mountaineering and is more a way of life than a spectator sport.
I’ve since chatted to lots of climbers (especially trad and/or mountaineers) who agree with this. I’ve also chatted to a lot who think that the Olympic version of climbing is fantastic as it makes climbing seem less daunting and so opens its up to a whole new generation of people who may be more inclined to try indoor sport climbing, bouldering or top roping.
On balance, I think that anything that encourages people to climb is a good thing. The health benefits are too many to list here and it compliments running incredibly well. It may be an oversimplification to say that running compresses the joints of the lower half of the body whilst climbing stretches the upper half, but we all like simple so I’ll say it anyway.
After hearing all the opinions I’m inclined to agree that indoor climbing (the Olympic variety) has little to do with the outdoor mountaineering lifestyle which spawned climbing, but that doesn’t stop me enjoying indoor climbing, doesn’t make it any less watchable and doesn’t stop it being a great way of staying fit and healthy.
*nothing wrong with gymnastics