Objectives: This observational, cross-sectional, pilot study was conducted to establish a nutritional profile among experienced climbers, both non-elite and elite, and to evaluate factors that influence time to exhaustion while climbing to volitional failure.

Methods: Elite (n = 10) and non-elite (n = 5) climbers, aged 18-45 years participated in the following: (1) nutritional analysis - 3-day food record and 24-hour dietary recall were analyzed using Food Processor and compared to government daily recommended intake; (2) climbing trial - after completing a climbing-related questionnaire and measuring anthropometric characteristics and hand grip strength, participants climbed a moderately difficult pre-set indoor route continuously until reaching volitional exhaustion.

Results: The major findings were significant differences for total climbing time between non-elite and elite, 8.2±5.4 and 24.0±17.4 (mean±SD), respectively (p = 0.02); protein intake from 24-hour recall (n = 15, rS = -0.53, p = 0.04); and total percent water intake (n = 15, rS = 0.60, p = 0.02).

Conclusions: These results indicate that a longer climbing time to exhaustion is related to self-reported climbing ability. Protein and total percent water were negatively correlated to climbing time, suggesting that excessive protein intake may be a detriment to climbing performance.