The Southern Indoor Bouldering League is a series of six competitions held over the winter period - usually one in each month from October to March. Each is at a different location in and around the London area and the nearest one to Climb Northwest this year is in Reading. Each leg has a junior and adult category for both male and female and there are prizes at each for the top three places.

Although it does attract some of the better climbers in the region the SIBL is open to everyone. It's a fun and informal event where the atmosphere is relaxed and the emphasis is on fun rather then winning. It's an ideal place to start competition climbing.

As the name implies, the event is purely bouldering. Each round consists of 20 problems and you have five hours to get through them. You can climb alone or in small groups where you mark each other.

This is the main competition for young people in the UK aimed at any level of climber it is split into 3 age groups dependant on year of birth, group 1 born in 1995, 1996 or 1997, group 2 born in 1998, 1999 or 2000 and group 3 born in 2001, 2002 and 2003. Each age group is also split into boys and girls categories as well. Unfortunately this means that some of you will be too old to compete in this. You can see the training sessions here. However the rest of you should give these competitions a go if you can. There are 3 regional rounds and a national final. Hampshire falls into the London & South east region, unfortunately those of you who live in Dorset or Wiltshire fall into the south west region and should attend their rounds (I am willing to try and get an exception for this if you want me too) The competition consists of 3 bouldering problems and 3 routes, the oldest age group leads the routes the rest top rope them. Generally an 'easy' 'medium' and 'hard' one of each.

The scoring is different from the SIBL in that each hold on the problem or route is given a score and you get the points from the highest point you reach on each. It is a bit more formal than the SIBL's in that you go around as a group and try each problem (3 tries) and route (1 try) in turn scored by a judge whilst the rest of the group watch but generally the atmosphere is great and very supportive.

Round 1 - Date and venue to be confirmed

Round 2 - Date and venue to be confirmed

Round 3 - Date and venue to be confirmed

This is a national event usually held in sheffield. It is open to any one but is likely to be at a reasonably high level (higher than the other comps). There is a Junior category for those born in 1995-1999 and a senior category for those born 1994 or earlier. If you are interested in this more details can be found here http://www.thebmc.co.uk/bbc. NB. we probably wont run a club trip to this event.

You've got no excuse not to enter this one! The Climb Northwest Climbing Festival is held sometime in the autumn each year.

Other climbing competitions and events will appear here and in the News section of this web site as soon as we hear about them.