Speed climbing

For such competitions, the speed climbing wall has been normed by the IFSC in a way that records are comparable.

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  Two climbers compete against each other on the Speed Wall (Chamonix 2018)
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  Full view of the standardized Speed Wall
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  Start position. The climber stands on a pressure plate foot trigger, which is used for detecting false starts.
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  Hitting a button at the top of the wall stops the timer. The climber is secured by an auto-belay device.
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The standard wall used is 15 meters tall.[9]

As of 04/28/17, Iranian climber Reza Alipour Shenazandifar holds the men's 15 meter speed world record; 5.48 seconds.[10]

2018 Speed climbing World Champions are Reza Alipour from Iran (5.63 seconds) and Aleksandra Rudzinska from Poland (7.56 seconds). The IFSC Climbing World Championships took place in Innsbruck, Austria.[10]

Men's World Record History

Date	Time (s)	Person	Location	Competition
April 30, 2017	5.48[11]	Reza Alipour	Nanjing, China	World Cup
September 12, 2014	5.60[12]	Danyil Boldyrev	Gijon, Spain	World Championships
August 31, 2014	5.73[13]	Libor Hroza	Arco, Italy	World Cup
August 30, 2014	5.76[14]	Libor Hroza	Arco, Italy	World Cup
October 13, 2012	5.88[15]	Evgenii Vaitcekhovskii	Xining, China	World Cup
August 27, 2011	6.26[16]	Qixin Zhong	Arco, Italy	World Championships

Women's World Record History

Date	Time (s)	Person	Location	Competition
November 21, 2020	6.964	Yulia Kaplina	Moscow, Russia	European Championships
October 19, 2019	6.995	Aries Susanti Rahayu	Xiamen, China	World Cup
April 26, 2019	7.101[17]	YiLing Song	Chongqing, China	World Cup
April 22, 2018	7.32[18]	Anouck Jaubert	Moscow, Russia	World Cup
July 22, 2017	7.32[19]	Yulia Kaplina	Wroclaw, Poland	World Games
April 30, 2017	7.38[20]	Yulia Kaplina	Nanjing, China	World Cup
April 23, 2017	7.46[21]	Yulia Kaplina	Chongqing, China	World Cup
July 11, 2015	7.53[22]	Yulia Kaplina	Chamonix, France	World Cup
June 21, 2015	7.56[23]	Yulia Kaplina	Chongqing, China	World Cup
May 17, 2015	7.74[24]	Yulia Kaplina	Central Saanich, Canada	World Cup
October 19, 2013	7.85[25]	Yulia Kaplina	Wujiang, China	World Cup

Full speed climbing is done in such a way that maximizes speed and minimizes danger. When climbing with a partner the climbers will alternate between regular free climbing, simul climbing, aiding, and at times sections of roped soloing. Speed climbing can also be done by an individual in which they alternate between forms of rope soloing, aiding, and free soloing. Strictly speaking, this type of speed climbing is not a style but a combination or perhaps a type of aid climbing. However, the complexity of combining all the styles together leads to what can be recognized as a separate style with its own particular techniques used in no other style.

Speed climbing offers a number of benefits and these include the opportunities to stress-proof learned climbing techniques and to learn more about pacing.[26] Pacing is important since a broad array of paces contributes to the climber's versatility to navigate crags and rock types. A faster pace for most climbers is said to be less strenuous than climbing at their normal speed.[26]

Records can be recorded while climbing in a particular style. Each of the methods ultimately handicap the rate of progress with the exception of free soloing.

The simplest way to increase the speed of climbing is to shed all safety precautions such as belaying and placing protection. For some climbers, this is the same as replacing the strength of the rope and the safety gears with mental toughness.[27] This leads to free soloing as rapidly as possible. While strictly speaking this qualifies as full speed climbing or a type of style climbing it is different enough to be recognized as its own category of speed climbing.

Most speed climbing records lack the standards normally associated with objective records. Hans Florine has written "I will be the first to say that climbing is silly. To make rules about it is just piling ridiculous on top of silly."[28] There are no sanctioned speed climbing competitions on significant rock features. Nearly all climbing goals and records are self-designed, self-timed, and self-officiated; few are well documented, and many are disputed.

The collection that follows abides by these loose standards.[28]

The time format below is either hrs:min or hrs:min:sec.

The Nose, El Capitan

• 1:58:07 Alex Honnold and Tommy Caldwell June 2018.[29]
• 2:10:15 Alex Honnold and Tommy Caldwell May 2018.[30]
• 2:19:44 Brad Gobright and Jim Reynolds October 2017.[31]
• 12:15 Heidi Wertz and Wera Shulte-Pelcum 2004 (all female ascent).
• 11:41 Hans Florine solo. July 2005.
• 11:00 Tommy Caldwell 2005 (free ascent male).
• 23:46 Lynn Hill 1994 (free ascent).

Regular Northwest Route, Half Dome

• 1:53:25 Jim Herson and Hans Florine 1999.
• 5:25 Heidi Wertz and Wera Shulte-Pelcum 2004 (all female ascent).
• 3:58 Hans Florine solo 1999 (Full day also included El Cap).

Snake Dike, Half Dome

• 3:00 Dean Potter 1998 (car to car).

Joshua Tree National Park

• 280 Routes in a day Michael Reardon solo 2004.

Jackson Falls, Illinois

• 10 climbs 100 feet tall 45 minutes free solo, Dennis George
• 600 feet car to summit with a steep approach of half mile Idyllwild, CA
• 10,000 feet in 24 hours Joshua Tree, CA climb for breast cancer

Bastille Crack

• 00:05:33 Mic Fairchild solo 1998.

Third Flatiron

• 36:27 Bill Briggs solo 1989 (car to car).

Epinephrine

• 0:39:40 Alex Honnold 2018[32]
• 1:15 Jash Stwart solo 2002.

Cat In The Hat

• 2:35 David Laxton solo 2013.

The Gunks

• 50 Routes 13:30 Peter Darmi solo 2004.
• 46 Routes 13:30 Eric Weigeshoff and Peter Darmi 2004. 3400' of climbing and descent.
• 51 Routes 13:30 Eric Weigeshoff and Peter Darmi 2006 3400' of climbing and descent.

Grand Traverse

• 6:40 Rolando Garibotti solo 2000.