A recent study found that indoor rock climbing has a low risk of injury and is 10 times safer than soccer. The study was published by the quarterly medical journal Wilderness and Environmental Medicine (PDF) by the Wilderness Medical Society.

From the scotsman.com,

The study by German researchers was based on the rates and types of injury at the 2005 World Championships in rock climbing in Munich, Germany, which involved almost 500 climbers from 55 countries.

The championships had an injury rate of 3.1 per 1,000 hours compared to adult male national soccer competitions where players face an injury rate of 30.3 per 1,000 hours.

Over the course of the competition’s events that totaled 520 climbing days, only three of 18 medical problems were treated as significant injuries, including a broken ankle, back sprain and knee sprain, while the majority of the problems were just bruises.

An interesting study for the average person who thinks climbing is more risky than other sports, but what I would be more interested in reading is a study that compares the injury rate within the various climbing disciplines. Personally, I find I get more injuries when climbing indoors (especially bouldering) compared to climbing outside. With bouldering, I think the reason is obvious. If you’re bouldering outside, all the problems are spread out across more time, usually the whole day. When bouldering indoors, a climber typically compress the same amount of problems (or more) into a 2 hour session. This simply stresses the body much more.

joost.climbing.nl also has some additional reporting on this study.

I’ve been hearing rumors that Nelson Rocks in West Virginia has resolved its liability concerns and will reopen next year. This is completely hearsay, but does anyone have any further details?

I really used to love climbing at Nelson when I lived in the DC area as it was a great alternative to the crowds at Seneca and Franklin.

I saw this come through this morning and thought everyone should read this statement from Black Diamond recalling their Speed Buckle Harness.
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I’m skeptical that slacklining actually helps all that much for climbing, but we like to have fun with it anyway. Here’s an article from WikiHow on how to walk a slackline. RockClimbing.com also has a detailed article on one person’s slackline setup with nice pics.

From scrambling accident to beer commercials, the LA Times has an article updating Aron Ralston.

Three years ago, Ralston was just another outdoor adrenaline junkie, attempting to be the first person to solo climb all 59 of Colorado’s 14,000-foot-plus peaks in winter. During a break from his quest, he ventured into a Utah canyon where an 800-pound boulder rolled onto his right hand, pinning him for six days until he freed himself by severing his arm with a pocketknife. Within a year, he returned to the Colorado Rockies to finish his climbing quest.

Ralston’s outrageous act of nerve has since made him a bestselling author, a beer pitchman, an eco celebrity and a motivational speaker in high demand by corporate America. At 30 years of age, he is one of the nation’s best-known mountaineers. But in the mountain-climbing community, he is the foolhardy adventurer who nearly died after committing the cardinal sin of hiking into the outdoors without leaving word on his whereabouts.

Mark Scott-Nash of boulderdirt.com wrote a thought provoking article on the ethics of climbing.

The “guidelines” of climbing range from restricting one’s technical climbing style to the first ascentionist style — for example, no new bolt placements — to not claiming an ascent of a peak unless you actually stand on the summit. They help us measure and define what is in reality a very open-ended activity.

But there are more serious ethics that come in to play when the stakes are higher.

Two incidents rocked the climbing world in May. David Sharp, a British climber on Mount Everest, was reportedly solo climbing when he ran into trouble and slowly died high on the mountain. Scores of people climbed past Sharp while he faded away in the thin, cold air on May 15. And in a completely different type of incident on the other side of the world, rock-climbing star Dean Potter made an ascent on an off-limits rock formation in Utah called Delicate Arch on May 7, sparking a controversy that has drawn national attention.

Climbing ethics is always a touchy issue, but the author brings up some salient points. The full article is a good read.

This is pretty funny - a humorous take on the Dean Potter climbing Delicate Arch controversy.

Climb like Dean - but without all of the controversy. Build a full-size Delicate Arch climbing wall in your own back yard - plans included!

This blueprint is an actual public service ad (PDF link) from the National Parks Conservation Association. (via The Piton)

I’m finally starting to see an increase in the number of climbing blogs being created. For a while, there was a surprising few climbing blogs while there were many web sites dedicated to climbing. This post is the first in a series that will highlight new climbing blogs. If you have a blog dedicated to climbing, let me know about it. Contact me with as much info as you care to leave including what topics you cover, your climbing background, and what climbing areas you frequent.

The first is a blog titled The Climbing. This brand new (June 2006) climbing focused blog already has some good product reviews (Petzl Zipka, Arc’teryx Vapor Harness) and promises to have a heavy focus on gear.

Trango has announced a recall on their #1 MaxCam. Details are in the PDF below:

http://www.trango.com/pdfs/MCrecall.pdf

The Appalachian Mountain Club has an article on rock climbing in New Jersey. I knew there was climbing there, but not to the extent that this article covers.

Standing at the base of a 150-foot cliff fronted by a field of car-sized boulders, it’s hard to shake the feeling that this area just doesn’t seem like New Jersey. Even though I’m only a few miles from the interstate, there aren’t any smoke stacks and the landscape is decidedly more interesting than the smelly, sprawling flatland that we’ve all seen from the Turnpike.

The article also lists some of the main climbing areas including: (more…)

Wired Nut has a review of a new stick clip tool, the RockTools Superclip. Looks like it may be a better alternative than the Trango Squid.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has an interesting article on the via ferrata at Nelson Rocks in West Virginia. I’ve never been on it myself, but I’ve observed many people on the via ferrata while climbing at Nelson Rocks (when it was open of course).

Italian for “iron road,” a via ferrata is essentially a fixed rock-climbing route defined by cables attached to a cliff face every few feet to provide protection from serious falls. Climbers wearing a harness around their waists and legs attach themselves to the cable with two carabiners, or climbing clips, allowing them to slide along the route with a relative degree of safety. U-shaped rungs drilled into the stone ease the difficulty of the climbing on steep stretches of the route.

Although the via ferrata concept has been around for more than a century in Europe, particularly in Italy’s Dolomite Alps, they are new to North America. Built in 2002, the Nelson Rocks via ferrata is only the second in the nation, the first being in Torrent Falls, Ky.

The Friends of Great Falls is holding a fundraiser (PDF flyer) tomorrow in Washington DC.

May 25 – Great Falls Fundraiser

Please consider joining us on Thursday, May 25th from
6-8pm for a Happy Hour Fundraiser to help Friends of
Great Falls save climbing at Great Falls. All proceeds
from this event will be used to preserve climbing
access at Great Falls Park. In particular they will
assist with the costs associated with the Freedom of
Information request filed by FOGF some months ago.

We are hoping to raffle a few items as well….

Date: Thursday, May 25, 2006
Time: 6-8pm
Where: Larry’s Lounge
1836 18th St Northwest
Washington DC, 20009

On the corner of 18th and T Street….$5 Bass

Climbing Magazine has all their tech tips nicely listed on their site now.

The 4th Annual New River Rendezvous is this weekend May 19 - 21 at the New River Gorge, West Virginia. I’ve wanted to attend the past few years, but was never able to make it down. This year I have no excuses living so close! I’m signed up for two clinics - Warriors Way with Arno Ilgner on Saturday and Adventure Climbing with Jeff Achey on Sunday. If anyone will also be going to the Rendezvous this year, let me know and maybe we can meet up.