USA Climbing is the national governing body of competition climbing in the United States. They promote three competition disciplines: bouldering, sport and speed climbing. The bouldering discipline is represented by the American Bouldering Series (ABS). (Bouldering is climbing 12 -14 feet high without ropes.) This season generally runs from September through a national event in early February. Likewise, the sport and speed climbing disciplines are represented by the Sport Climbing Series (SCS). This season generally runs from February to a national event in mid July. (Sport climbing is top rope climbing for youth 13 and under and lead climbing for 14 and older ages.)

USA Climbing receives sanctioning and is recognized by: The American Alpine Club, The International Federation for Sport Climbing (IFSC - formerly known as the International Council for Competition Climbing or the ICC), the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the United States Olympic Committee (USOC). Individuals who compete in USA Climbing competitions and place high enough to make the national team go on to compete in world competitions sponsored by the IFSC.

The Mission of USA Climbing is: To ensure the success and growth of the sport of climbing. USA Climbing encourages everyone to participate in one or both series through sanctioned climbing events.

Interested in Competing

To enter the competition series, you should become a USA Climbing Member. Go to the USA Climbing Web site at www.usaclimbing.org to register. This web site also shows all the scheduled competitions for the USA climbing series. The YAC’s have consistently had team members go to nationals in both series!! We are part of the Midwest Region. Our Division includes the Midwest, Heartland and Ohio-River Valley Regions.

In addition to the USA competition series, there are other regional competitions that are simply for fun and building the climbing community. We will be sure to post these on our web site. Examples include the IBEX (gym in Kansas City) “Halloween Pull Down”, the Vertical Endeavors (gym in St. Paul, MN) “Passion for Flashing” (flashing a completing a route in the first attempt) and “Quick on the Draw” (gym in Pewaukee, WI).

If parents are interested, there are a number of us that have been involved with climbing for more than 4 years and we would be happy to hold an informational meeting during one of the first practices. All the terminology can be overwhelming…just wait until your kids talk about slopers and crimpers! Let me know if this is of interest. The sport is a lot of fun and you will find genuine, quality people everywhere you go!