A lot of beginner climbers get confused by the terms sport climbing and lead climbing. It’s understandable, climbing has lots of specific vocabulary. Basically: all sport climbing is lead climbing, but not all lead climbing is sport climbing.
What is Lead Climbing?
Most people are familiar with top-rope rock climbing, like in a climbing gym where the rope has already been hung. Both ends of the rope will touch the ground; a climber will tie into one end, and the belayer will use the other side to keep the climber under tension as they advance. With this setup, any fall is very short.
Lead climbing is how climbers get the rope up, when there is no opportunity to use a top-rope. It’s when climber, belayer and rope all begin on the ground, and the lead climber advances the rope, attaching herself to protection at periodic intervals to prevent dangerous falls. This fall protection can be removable “trad gear”, or it can be pre-placed, permanent expansion bolts. If the climber is clipping bolts, it is sport climbing.
What is Sport Climbing?
Sport climbing refers to bolt-protected rock climbing, usually in an outdoor context. Climbing on plastic could be considered sport climbing, but people will usually call it “gym climbing” instead of “sport climbing”. That said, the Olympics do have a “sport climbing” category where the competition takes place on artificial walls.
The short version is bolts = sport climbing.
The advantage to sport climbing is added safety for the lead climber versus traditional climbing, where improperly placed gear can rip out of the wall. Sport climbing is also more accessible and a lot cheaper than trad climbing, since less equipment is required. All a sport climbing leader needs is a set of quickdraws to attach his rope to the bolts.
How Do You Get Down After Sport Lead Climbing?
A sport climb will have a set of “anchor bolts” installed at the end of the course. This anchor will be configured with permanent hardware like rappel rings or “mussy hooks” for lowering. Reaching the anchor indicates completion of the routes – climbers call this “clipping the chains”, because sport climbing anchors often have links of chains to allow a bit of movement.
If you have more questions, “Learn to Climb Indoors” by Eric Horst is a good resource for understanding some of the basic principles and terminology. If you want a more thorough education, including outdoor climbing, “How to Rock Climb” by John Long is a good text, which just had a 2022 update.
Enjoy your climbing journey!
Gym to Crag 