Sportclimbing and climbing competitions developed as a natural progression from the long established sport of Rock Climbing. While the first competitions took place around the 1940's, it wasn't until the 1980’s that a number of national federations began to formulate rules and hold large-scale events.

With the advent of Indoor Gyms and Artificial Climbing Walls, climbers were able to climb and train at times and in weather that precludes climbing outdoors. In India numerous climbing walls have been developed and as a result of ready access to these facilities Sportclimbing has started to flourished.

Due to the fun and excitement generated by Sportclimbing more people began to climb on artificial walls and inevitably they began to compete with each other. In response to the growing interest in competition climbing a the UIAA, an international climbing organisation establishes a set of Competition Climbing Regulations through its subsidiary the ICC. The ICC Regulations have become the standard and in conjunction with established Age Categories, allow climbers to compete on an fair and consistent basis.

Internationally, Sportclimbing has exploded into a fully professional world touring circuit often drawing up to 200,000 spectators. Following these trends, the sport in India is experiencing an almost exponential growth in popularity attracting a diverse range of competitors and spectators.

In India competition climbing typically takes one of the following forms:

The National Competitions Series is a formal and internationally sanctioned series of competition events. The series is run annually, commencing with a number of Zonal Competitions and culminates in a National Final held before the end of the calendar year. The National Competitions Series is administered by the Indian Mountaineering Foundation (IMF) with competitions run in accordance with ICC Regulations. During each competition season climbers may compete in a number of events and in doing so accumulate points towards their National Ranking.

Some Private Clubs like Girivihar also Conducts Competitions on Natural in difficulty and bouldering which culminate into a great fun for all national competitors and even some International who participate in it.

Modern competitions generally require walls that are high and overhang to provide competitors with challenging routes. The climbing walls used for competitions are typically in excess of 15 metres (45 feet) in height and overhang by up to 6 metres (18 feet).

There are three main types of competition: