Worldwide climbing community stats from IFSC

Nothing too exciting to write or put up photos about (although a lot of thoughts from my ongoing work!) but saw this email from the IFSC and it had good stats on the worldwide climbing community that are worth posting.


About the IFSC
  • The International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) was created in 2007. The IFSC is the world governing body for all aspects of international climbing competitions.
  • The IFSC is recognised by the IOC and member of ARISF, SportAccord and IWGA.
  • The main purposes of the IFSC are the direction, regulation, promotion, development and furtherance of climbing competitions on a worldwide basis.
  • The IFSC fosters links, networks, and friendly relations among its members, climbers and officials. 
Key figures
  • 80 Member Federations over 5 continents.
  • 1630 licensed athletes in 2012, 660 of these licensed athletes are females
  • Athletes represent the 5 continents and 67 countries.
3 disciplines
  • Lead: Height, endurance and strategy with a 8-minute time limit. The one who gets higher wins.
  • Boulder: Power and technique for an explosive performance of a maximum of 10 movements.
  • Speed: 15 meters in less than 7 seconds!
About the international climbing community
  • A large worldwide climbing community:
  • 25 million people climb regularly
  • They are part of the 250 million outdoor enthusiasts.
  • 3,000 people climb for the first time every day
  • From 2001 to 2010, the number of French Federation members has increased by 50% 
  • (vs +11% all sports included)
  • More and more people practice free climbing outside official structures
  • Federation members come from both mountain/urban areas
  • Climbers are young (39% under 18) but practice until 60 and more.
  • Climbers are mainly males (62%) but the share of women is higher than in other sports
  • (38% vs. 31% all sports included) 



Anyway, working lots. Starting to coach more (yeah!), starting to route-set more. Started training at beginning of January after a brief holiday in Spain (onsighted a 7c, red pointed an 8a in 30/40 minutes - the Spanish 8a lived up to it's reputation of being soft, the 7c was a good fight and definitely the grade).  Big learning experience from that trip was doing a lot less on the trip (like climbing hard on every third day only saw more successful results than climbing 2-on, 1-off like I usually do). Lots and lots of mileage/volume for the month of January - well as much as I could fit in with all the work. Now roll into a phase of Intervals (5 min long, high intensity) and some non-specific climbing training (rings, etc).

Realised we're in an amazing era now of easy access to tons of good footage. Look at all of these below. Hard to believe, prior to 2006 and before YouTube, it would have been hard to get good quality home-made footage. Times, they are a'changing!




Sunny boulders, strong spotting, big fish! and a big fish impersonation... from Tops Off 4POWER on Vimeo.
Musik - Onra - Chinoiseries


Spindle from Tops Off 4POWER on Vimeo.


Off the Wagon! from Jan Hojer on Vimeo.




Admit it, you want a go :)

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