ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (KDVR) – One of the oldest recreational activities for people is now the newest Olympic sport. Rock climbing, or as the event is officially called, sport climbing.
Rock climbing is alive and well in the United States. We love it so much, we do it indoors.
Aubrey Fraser is the gym director at Earth Treks in Englewood, so naturally she is excited about the new Olympic sport.
“We have 53,000 square feet of climbing. We have huge, tall walls that go up to 65 feet,” said Fraser. “It’s such a challenging sport both mentally and physically that it definitely deserves to be in the Olympics.”
There will be three categories of Olympic sport climbing – first up, speed climbing.
“They are going to be timed, climbers will be side-by-side, whoever is the first to get up top is the winner of that,” said Fraser.
Next up, and we mean up, is lead climbing.
“In lead climbing, you are taking the rope up with you and you are clipping in your next anchor as you go up,” said Fraser.
The third category is bouldering, it is not very high up, but can be very dangerous.
“Bouldering does not require ropes, the walls are actually shorter than the rope, there are no ropes. You can fall, so every fall you will fall down to the ground, and restart again,” said Fraser.
Rock climbing at minimum is a dangerous sport, says Fraser, but perhaps that is why it may become a popular Olympic sport.