The importance of competitive climbing.

[Andrew Itkonen]

As this is primarily a forum for outdoor climbing in Squamish I wonder how the users of this forum view the importance of competitive climbing.

We need to rememder that the larger a sport or activity is the more money is involved thus enlarging the sport/activity itself. Look at any major pro sport in Canada and see how much money is involved. So much so that soon tax money starts providing venues to participate in these activities. (Public hockey rinks, outdoor tennis courts, etc.) Climbing in Europe a much bigger deal than in North America and competitive climbing is huge there.

So the question is: Should competitve climbing be taken as seriously in Canada as it is in most other countries?
If so, should the compeitions we do have be held to a higher standard, especially major competitions such as local, regional and national ranked/sanctioned competitions?
Also, should venues that host these competitions be held responsible for making sure that these rules and formats are followed?

Ranked/sanctioned competitions follow the World Cup or IFSC(International Federation of Sport Climbing) rules and format. Is this the format we should use for sanctioned competitions in Canada? It does make sense for the people moving on to the world competitive stage.

I feel that competitive climbing is one of the major factors in growth for climbing and as competitve climbing has grown, primarily in the junior fields, so has interest in climbing. This greater interest has brought more private and public money to climbing and more people. I realize we all hate crowds in climbing areas but we now have way more of those areas and they are taken better care of because of the larger amount of people invloved.

Please let me know what you think.

Andrew