With easy access to climbing gyms around the country, indoor sport climbing is now more popular with beginners than outdoor sport climbing, but once you have conquered the gym, there are routes all over the world of all different levels of difficulty. Frowned upon by purists and traditionalists as being unethical due to the permanent damage caused to rock faces by the bolts, Sport Climbing isn't without it's conflicts but due to the explosive growth it has experienced over the years, it is set to become an Olympic sport in the 2020 Summer Games in Tokyo, Japan for the first time.
As the routes are pre-determined and set, they can be assigned difficulty grades to describe both the danger and difficulty of the route. The French system is recoginsed the world over and is commonly used throughout the UK. Starting at 1 for the easiest climbs and going all the way to 9c which is currently the most difficult graded route in the world, known as Silence in Hanshelleren Cave in Flatanger, Norway and first climbed by Adam Ondra, regarded as one of the best climbers in the world, google him if you don't know who he is. Most beginner routes in climbing gyms start at a 3 grade.
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