I didn't know climbing had a World Cup...

[iAmKrzys]

I didn't know Climbing World Cup existed until I came across this video: https://youtu.be/lj_AvZRTxw4 It looks pretty competitive!

 

[nartreb]

That video shows only speed climbing, one of the three disciplines in the IFSC World Cup (and in the Olympics starting in 2020). I think bouldering is the most fun to watch. You can see bouldering competitions in person every few months or so at your local climbing gym, and you'd be surprised at the level of national and international talent that may show up. In the meantime, if you're looking for exciting youtube videos, look for competitive ice-climbing.

 

[iAmKrzys]

That video shows only speed climbing, one of the three disciplines in the IFSC World Cup (and in the Olympics starting in 2020). I think bouldering is the most fun to watch. You can see bouldering competitions in person every few months or so at your local climbing gym, and you'd be surprised at the level of national and international talent that may show up. In the meantime, if you're looking for exciting youtube videos, look for competitive ice-climbing.

This will be a lot more fun to watch during the Olympics than endless dissection of every athlete's personal life. I saw a few more of these climbing youtube videos and the competitions look pretty incredible to me, but to be fair I am not into climbing and I am pretty clueless as to the true level of difficulty.

 

[nartreb]

There's already no lack of actual competition that the TV networks *could* spend time covering. The networks show endless athlete-overcomes-childhood-tragedy montages because that's their strategy for reaching the largest audience. Thank goodness for Internet video, and VPNs.

 

[DayTrip]

I saw an ad on Facebook earlier this week with a similar event for ice climbing. Was pretty wild.