With almost three-hundred and thirty events across thirty-two sports, anyone tuning into the Olympic Games in Paris this summer is almost guaranteed to come across an event where the rules and terminology are a bit of a mystery to them.

Whilst part of the fun can be learning as you go along, it can be hard to get to grips with the unfamiliar scoring systems and strange terminology you might hear when watching a new sport, especially if you only catch a brief glimpse of it in and amongst all the other coverage.

If that 'new sport' is climbing, then you're in the right place. Here's a description of how the combined climbing - that is, the Boulder & Lead event - works, along with a list of words that you may well hear when watching the coverage, and what they mean. 

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How it works:

Sport climbing at the Paris Olympics is split into two events, the combined Boulder & Lead climbing and the Speed climbing.

Whilst speed climbing is relatively simple - whoever gets to the top of the wall the fastest wins - Boulder and Lead are both slightly more complex, in terms of the climbing itself, the ways in which the discplines are scored, and the terminology used to describe them.

This article focuses just on combined Boulder & Lead climbing, starting off with a description of each discipline, what the climbers have to do, and how the rounds are scored.

Bouldering:

For both the men and the women, the combined climbing at the Olympic games will kick off with bouldering. Bouldering happens on shorter walls, around 4.5 metres at the Paris games, above thick foam mats and without ropes.

As the walls are short, Bouldering is all about squeezing as much difficulty as possible into that small space, whether that's challenging the climber's strength, balance, coordination, flexibility, or problem solving.

Bouldering certainly has the most complex rules of the two disciplines. A more detailed description of the scoring system is available here, but broadly speaking the rules are as follows: 

• The climber must start in a specific position, with four bits of tape marking the holds where the climber's four limbs must be when they begin climbing - this means that getting into the starting position can be a challenging move in and of itself!
• Once the climber is established in the starting position, they then have to get as far up the wall as they possibly can, in as few attempts as possible. There are three spots on the wall at which the climber earns points, a Low Zone, a High Zone, and the 'Top'. The Low Zone is worth 5 points, the High Zone is worth 10 points, and the 'Top' is worth 25 points.

• Climbers must 'control' the Zone holds in order to get the points associated with them, meaning they cannot simply jump and slap at a Zone hold and get the points. Similarly, the climber must show control of the finishing position by 'matching' the final hold on the wall, meaning they must have at least one digit per hand touching the final hold - again, in a controlled manner - in order to be awarded the 25 points.

• Climbers are given five minutes and unlimited attempts to climb the boulders, however, each unsucessful attempt is punished by 0.1 point deduction.
• This means that if a climber reaches the Low Zone on their first attempt, they would be awarded 5 points, but if they reach the High Zone on their second attempt, their overall score would increase to 9.9, as the High Zone is worth 10 points, but their previous attempt would now be considered an unsuccessful attempt to reach the High Zone, hence the 0.1 point deduction.
• There are four separate boulders in each round, each with a maximum score of 25, for a potential total of 100 points.

Lead climbing:

Where Bouldering is all about condensed difficulty and intensity, Lead climbing dials down the difficulty of the climbing, but ramps up the demands on the climber's endurance, rewarding smooth and efficient climbing, as well as precision of movement.

Where bouldering walls are 4.5 metres in height, the Lead wall is 15 metres high, and where Bouldering allows unlimited attempts across four boulders with 5 minutes for each boulder, there is only 1 lead route, climbers only get 1 attempt on it, and they have only six minutes to get as far as they possibly can. 

As with the bouldering, the ultimate goal is to 'Top' the route, meaning you reach the final hold. However, scoring in the Lead round is slightly different, with each of the final 40 holds counting towards the climbers overall score. Again, more detailed breakdown of the scoring system available here, but a basic overview is as follows:

• The route will have roughly 45 holds on the wall, with the upper 40 counting as 'scoring' holds, with the scores accumulating as the climber gets higher up the wall.
• The final 10 holds will be worth 4 points each, the 10 holds that precede them are worth 3 points each, the 10 before that are worth 2 points each, the 10 before that are worth 1 point each. If the climber makes it to the top of the route, they receive a total of 100 points.

• It's easier to work out when you're watching, as the scores should tick upwards on the screen as the climber gets higher, but essentially, the higher you get up the wall, the more heavily weighted each individual move is in terms of scoring.
• If a climber falls whilst moving upwards towards a hold, then they are given an additional 0.1 points in order to reward the progression beyond the hold in question, whilst another climber may have only managed to reach the hold, but not move past it.
• Whilst Bouldering happens above mats and without ropes, Lead climbing happens with harnesses and with ropes, meaning that the climber must clip themselves into carabiners - or 'quickdraws' - as they climb up the route in order to remain safe.

• ​For safety reasons, these quickdraws must be clipped in order, otherwise the climber could receive a penalty. If a climber reaches the top of the route, they must both hold the 'top' hold and 'clip' the final quickdraw in order to be awarded a 'top' of the route. 
• Sometimes, if a climber can tell that they are running out of energy, they will elect to not clip a quickdraw in order to instead use their limited reserves to climb a move or two further, thus increasing their score slightly.

How are they combined?

With four Boulders worth 25 points apiece for a total of 100 points, and with a Lead route worth a maximum of 100 points in total, each discipline is weighted equally. The two scores are added together for a total score out of 200.

The climbers with the top eight scores will progress into the final, where the scores are wiped.

The climbers will then have four brand new Boulders and a brand new Lead route to climb in the final. Again, scores from Boulder and Lead rounds will be added together, and the overall score will dictate who takes home the medals.

Other info:

Climbers are not given any prior information about the boulders and lead routes that they climb, meaning that they must work out how to climb them without any prior information except for an observation period where they are allowed to examine the boulders and routes and discuss them with their fellow competitors. In the bouldering, this observation period is only allowed in the final. Men and Women climb different boulders and routes to one another. 

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Hopefully you have a better understanding now of exactly how the combined climbing at the Olympics works. When watching it, however you might find yourself raising an eyebrow at some of the unusual words you hear.

Whilst this list isn't exhaustive, it should cover most of the weird words that you might hear during Olympic commentary, and help ensure that you know your micro-crimps from your jugs, and your paddle-dynos from your knee-bars.

Handhold

An umbrella term for any hold that is intended to be used by the hands. Handholds can be big or small, easy to hold or difficult to hold, circular, triangular, or completely irregular in shape.

Whilst a hold might be designed for the hands or feet specifically, climbers can use any part of their body on any part of the hold. You might see climbers getting knees, elbows, or even fingernails involved, as long as it helps, (almost) anything goes.

Foothold

An umbrella term for any hold intended to be used primarily by the feet. Unlike handholds, holds designed specifically for feet are often so small that using them for the hands should be impossible, although that doesn't stop some athletes from doing it anyway...

Crimp

Noun Crimps are the smallest type of climbing hold. Typically, any hold around the depth of the first pad of your finger, or smaller, is a crimp.

You might hear 'pads' used as an indicator of how small a crimp is, i.e. 'a quarter-pad crimp'. Obviously everyone's hands are different, but these holds get very small, often around a centimetre or less in depth.

Crimps can be:

Positive/incut - meaning the front of the hold is the highest point, and then it slopes downwards towards the wall, meaning the climber can dig their fingers into it.

Flat - meaning... it's flat.

or

Negative/sloping - meaning that the back of the crimp is the highest point, and it slopes down away from the wall, making it harder to hold onto.

Generally speaking, the smaller the hold, the more positive it needs to be in order for a climber to be able to hold it. You might hear terms like 'micro-crimp' or 'credit card crimp', these are terms used to describe especially tiny crimps.

Verb Crimping is also used as a verb, describing the positioning of the fingers when holding onto a small hold. Generally speaking, a crimp is when the middle knuckle of the fingers are bent at 90 degrees, whilst the first knuckle of the finger (the one nearest the finger-tip) stays straight. 

A half-crimp is when the fingers are bent at the middle-knuckle as described above, and the rest of the hand remains relatively open, with a straight line between the bent knuckle and the wrist. 

A full-crimp is similar, except with the added strength of the thumb, which wraps over the first finger to lock it in place, and to gain extra strength from the thumb itself. Full-crimping allows climbers to exert more force on smaller holds, but is typically the grip type that fails first when it comes to endurance.

Drag/Open-hand

A drag or open-hand position is when the fingertips are on a hold, but the knuckles remain in an open position. This is a more passive type of finger position than crimping, requiring less active engagement.

This means that if a climber is able to 'drag' a hold, or take it in an 'open-hand' position, then they are likely using less energy in holding it. Whilst dragging a hold is great for endurance, if a hold is particularly small then it may be impossible to hold passively, meaning that a drag/open-hand position isn't an option.

Jug

The opposite of a crimp - if you were going to design a hold that would make it extraordinarily easy to get to the top of the wall, it would be this. You can wrap your whole hand around it and grip it the same way you would the handle of a large jug.

Commentators may occasionally get carried away with their use of the word 'jug' when watching professional climbers. Rest assured, what might feel like jugs to the pros would likely represent a challenge to hold onto for the rest of us.

Sloper

Slopers are holds that are shaped in such a way that means that your hands and fingers can't sink into them, and often want to slide off them. Slopers require climbers to use the friction of the hold itself to stay on, as well as good body-positioning and body-tension, back and shoulder engagement, forearm strength, and wrist strength - it's a full-body hold.

Volumes

Volumes are massive holds, normally geometric, that are used to change the angle of the wall, and upon which other holds are often screwed into. These holds can also be used as massive handholds or footholds.

Pinch

Any hold where the climber is meant to hold onto it using their fingers on one side and their thumb on the other.

Pocket

A hold with a hole in it, into which the climber is only able to fit a few fingers.

Mono

Like a pocket, but designed to fit just a single finger.

Blocked hold/Slot

A blocked hold is when the target hold has been blocked off slightly by another hold that is not good enough to be used by the climber. This is done to either make the target hold slightly smaller (i.e. blocking off half of a hold widthways), or to increase the demands on the climbers accuracy, (i.e. by placing the hold very slightly above the target hold, meaning the climber has to be especially accurate). This second form could also be referred to as a 'slot'. 

Undercling/Undercut

An upside-down hold, where the climber must pull or press upwards into the hold rather than pulling down onto it. Often, getting the most out of an undercling requires the climber to move their feet higher in order to be able to press their body weight upward into the underneath of the hold.

Sidepull

A hold that is positioned sideways. Just as you need to to pull upwards into an undercling, in order to get the best out of a sidepull, your body needs to be positioned in a way that allows you to pull directly into the hold with force.

Jib/Screw-on

A tiny hold, often so small that it is only usable as a foothold. Jibs, or 'screw-ons' are sometimes screwed into larger holds, such as volumes, in order to give the feet something to stand on or fingers something to wrap around, essentially adding a slight bump to an otherwise flat surface, and thereby making it easier to hold onto/stand on top of.

Jam

Where the climber wedges a part of their body, a hand, an arm, a leg, a foot, or even their whole body, in between two holds, and uses outwards force and rotation in order to keep that part of their body in place.

Lock-off

Locking off is where a climber bends their arm at a 90° angle, or sometimes a more acute angle, to bring their body higher, and then uses their bicep to 'lock' their body in that position to allow their other hand to reach higher.

Gaston

A position where the climber has their elbow high and their thumb pointing down, engaging their back muscles to pull the hold outwards away from the wall, thus keeping their body in.

It's hard to describe - imagine trying to prise open some elevator doors from the centre outwards, that's a gaston.

Mantel

A move that is occasionally seen in comp climbing, but is much more common outdoors, a mantel is when a climber reaches up to a ledge, or a big hold, then gets a foot on the hold, and then works their way into a standing position on the same hold. Hard to describe, harder to do. 

Heel hook

A heel hook is where the heel of the climbing shoe is placed on the outside of a hold and pulled inwards. As well as helping climbers move between holds and find more stable positions, heel hooks also help climbers take weight off their hands, which helps them recover between moves.

Toe hook

Like a heel hook, but with the toe instead. Whilst heel hooks are an 'active' move, i.e. they require active pulling with the hamstring, toe hooks are slightly more passive, requiring good heel flexion, but less activation of the big muscle groups. Toe hooks typically allow slightly more reach than heel hooks, because they don't require as much flexion of the knee or hamstring.

Smear

Where the climber smears the front portion of their shoe on the wall or a hold, and uses the friction of their shoe rubber, rather than the angle of the hold, to keep their foot in place.

Knee-bar

A type of jam, but the version you're most likely to see at some point, especially on a lead route. Knee-bars are when the climber places their toe on a hold and then wedges their knee behind another hold, essentially wedging the lower portion of their leg into a constriction that means that they can take weight off their hands and rest, or sometimes even fully take their hands off the wall.

Flag

A form of counterbalancing, where the climber moves the foot that's NOT on a foothold to maintain balance, or to adjust body position. If you stand up and try to balance on your right foot, and then move your right hand as far to the right as you possibly can, the movement of your left foot to counterbalance is essentially a form of flagging.

Dyno

Any move where dynamic movement is required to reach a hold that would otherwise be out of reach, and which could not be reached without dynamic movement.

Double-dyno

A dyno that requires both hands to come off the wall at the same time.

Paddle-dyno

A dyno with multiple moves, where a climber jumps from Hold A to Hold B via some intermediate holds which are good enough to gain momentum off, but not good enough to pause on.

Coordination move

Any move where the hands and feet must do things simultaneously, like jumping to a handhold for the right hand whilst simultaneously placing a heel hook with the left foot. Correctly placing just one of the limbs in questions will result in the climber falling, as neither hold is good enough to keep the climber on in isolation, only a combination of the two will allow the climber to stay on the wall.

Campus

Campusing refers to when a climber moves between hand holds with their feet hanging beneath them, without using footholds. Sometimes this will be necessary due to the demands of the boulder or the route in question - i.e. the 'routesetters' have made it unavoidable - and sometimes climbers simply elect to 'campus' between holds because it is quicker or less risky than using a poor foothold.

Pogo

A pogo is when the climber swings a leg that is not currently on the wall upwards, to drive their body-weight up towards a target hold that is otherwise out of reach. Pogos are often part of dynamic moves such as dynos.

Static

Any move where the climber uses strength and body tension to pull themselves into a relatively still and stable position, which they then hold whilst moving one of their limbs. Static movement accounts for a lot of basic climbing moves, but is particularly useful when the handholds and footholds in question are small, as static climbing allows the climber to place their hands and feet with precision.

Static climbing is typically highlighted in commentary when dynamic movement is also an option, and the climber opts for a static version of the move as they see it as less risky, even if it is more physically strenuous.

Dynamic

The opposite of static, where climbers use momentum to flow through a move. For example, a move where the climber pulls with their arms and pushes with their legs at the same time in order to move their whole body upwards, and then moves their hand at the apex of their body's elevation, is dynamic. If another climber did the same move by pulling their body into a high position, and then kept it still whilst they moved their arm, that would be a static move.

Compression

Compression climbing is where the climber is staying on the wall primarily through squeezing the holds towards one another rather than only pulling directly down on them. You can have wide compression, where the climber's body will be almost fully spanned between the holds, and narrow compression, where the climbers hands will be closer together.

Slab

Any part of a climbing wall that is less steep than vertical is a slab. Because boulders on slabs are not overhanging, they tend to be set in ways that challenge the climber's balance, composure, and precision slightly more than steep boulders do. Slabs are all about trusting poor footholds and moving between points of balance with confidence - they're arguably the most tense to watch, as it feels like the climber could fall at any moment!

Overhang/Roof

Technically speaking, any part of the wall that is steeper than vertical is overhanging, but climbers are so strong that you often won't notice they are on an overhanging until the wall reaches around 20 degrees overhanging.

Overhanging walls make it more challenging for climbers to keep their weight on their feet, since their upper body is leaning away from the wall, meaning that their upper body, fingers, and core take more of the brunt of the climbing.

A roof is an overhang that is close to horizontal, with the climbers back perpendicular to the ground.

Arete

An arete is an edge, either the edge of the wall, or a hold that is so big that it might as well be an edge of the wall. Particularly in bouldering, the edge of a wall, the arete, is sometimes used as part of the boulder in question. At other times, the edge of the wall will be taped off with black tape, meaning that even if the climber can reach it, they are not allowed to use it. The arete is not typically used as part of lead routes.

Zone

Zones exist only in bouldering - they are holds in the middle of boulders that are used to create separation amongst climbers who do not complete them.

I.e. if three climbers fail to complete a boulder, but one is unable to get off the ground, one is only able to make it to the Low Zone hold, and one is able to make it to the High Zone hold, then this allows there to be clear separation between the three climbers and the scores that they receive, despite none of them having reached the 'Top'.

Top

The final hold of a boulder or a route. The climber must reach the 'top' hold in order to complete the boulder or the route. If a climber completes a boulder or route, they are said to have 'topped' it, or to have 'got a top'.

Flash

A 'flash' is when a climber climbs a boulder on their first attempt. In competition, this is only really relevant in the bouldering round, as it is only in the bouldering that having more than one attempt is possible. When climbing outdoors on real rock, 'flash' ascents are equally coveted in both bouldering and roped climbing.

Match

Broadly speaking, this term refers to any time that you move a hand or foot to a hold that is already being used by another hand or foot.

For example, if your hand is using a sloper, and you bring your other hand in beside it, you have 'matched' your hands. If you were climbing and you brought your left foot to the hold that you were using with your left hand, you would have done a 'foot-hand match'.

When the climber reaches the final hold of a boulder, they must 'match' the hold with both hands (no feet allowed this time!) in a controlled fashion in order to indicate that they have finished the boulder. This means that jumping and tapping the final hold with both hands won't count, both hands must be in contact with the final hold in a 'static' manner, clearly in control, for the climber to be awarded a 'top'.

Crux

The 'crux' is the hardest move, or sequence of moves, on the boulder or route. The crux is often the part of a boulder or route that will separate the strongest and most technically skilled climbers from those who are a level below.

Pump

If a climber is 'pumped', it means that the lactic-acid in their forearms has built up so much that they can no longer hold on to a hold, even if it wouldn't be difficult for them under normal circumstances. Pump normally occurs after the climber has spent a long time on the wall, so is more commonly seen in the lead climbing portion of the competition, or in some cases if a boulder is particularly long, or if a climber has had lots of rapid-fire attempts on a boulder. 

Hold a tennis ball in the palm of your hand, curl your wrist slightly towards your elbow, and dig your fingertips into the tennis ball 150 times as fast as you possibly can - when you start to feel a burning sensation in your forearms, that's the pump.

Beta

Beta is the sequence of movements that a climber uses to do an individual move, or sequence of moves, within a boulder or route. There is normally an 'intended beta', which means the sequence of moves that the routesetters expected the climber to do, as well as 'alternative beta' or 'beta breaks', which is when a climber will find an alternative solution to the problem presented by the holds in front of them.

You can see a particularly ingenious beta-break here.

Dual-Tex

Dual-Tex holds are holds where part of the hold has been made to be as smooth as possible, whilst another part of the hold has been designed to have friction for the climber to hold onto. 

Typically, climbing holds have an almost sandpapery feeling to them, to allow climbers to hold onto them more easily. Dual-Tex holds have that friction on one part of the hold, but are otherwise as smooth as possible, meaning that to hold, or stand on, that smooth part of the hold becomes even harder. 

Dual-Tex holds can make otherwise easy moves very difficult, as they demand extreme precision to land on the friction-y part of the hold, whether with the hand or the foot.

Quickdraw

Two carabiners connected by a fabric sling. These are placed at regular intervals up the lead wall for the climber to clip into as they climb up, thereby ensuring that they do not hit the ground when they fall.

Climbers must clip the quickdraws in order in order, otherwise they may receive a penalty.

Clipping

Clipping is what the climbers do with their ropes in order to ensure that they are safe when they fall on a lead route. Climbers put the rope that they are tied to through 'quickdraws' as they progress up the route, essentially making sure that if and when they fall, their fall is stopped by the most recent 'clip' that they have made. 

Because clipping requires climbers to pause briefly and depend entirely on their other limbs to keep them on the wall, clipping can often feel like a strenuous move in and of itself.

Routesetter

The routesetters are the people that design the boulders and the lead routes, aiming to achieve both good separation between athletes and to put on an exciting show for the audience. They are typically very high level climbers themselves, and have years of experience setting at high-level competitions between them. Routesetters will test routes amongst themselves to try to make sure that the level of difficulty is correct for each individual boulder/route. 

As routesetters are unlikely to be able to complete boulders/routes that they are setting for the very best climbers in the world, they will typically test whether each individual move/sequence of moves is possible, rather than attempting to do the whole boulder or route. If each part can be done in isolation, then the routesetters know that linking them all together should be possible for the very best athletes.

Belayer

In the lead round, the climber uses a rope to ensure their safety as they progress higher up the wall. The belayer is the person at the other end of the rope, using a device on a harness to manually feed enough rope so that the climber is never impeded by tension on the rope, but not so much that they fall too far if and when they fall.

Isolation zone

An area where athletes are held before their turn to attempt a boulder or route, so that they cannot gain an unfair advantage by watching other climbers attempt the boulders/route beforehand.