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Posted by Bill S on July 13, 2007 at 12:59:24 pm EDT
In reply to Beginning climbing posted by Climbing (Guest) on July 4, 2007 at 3:14:33 am EDT

Every so often I get the national statistics on various sports from a relative who is in the insurance business. The highest accident rate and fatality rate are in high school football. Climbing ranks way down the list, but the accidents garner lots of publicity nationally, where the high school football incidents mostly get reported locally. Scuba is quite a bit higher on the lists than climbing. I don't have the 2006 report in front of me, so I don't have the exact numbers. Remember that "rate" is in terms of "participant-hours". And yes, you can argue all day about how "participant-hours" are measured and the reporting of accidents. But this ranking has been pretty consistent over the 30+ years I have been scanning the insurance industry results.

A telling statistic is that insurance companies ask about participation in various activities. Scuba is on the list, but climbing (neither rock climbing, ice climbing, or low-altitude mountaineering) is not, although high-altitude mountaineering is (defined as over 18,000 ft). Flying your own plane is, depending on hours and rating.

If you look back through Accidents in North American Mountaineering, you will find from time to time a comparison of the statistics for various sports. Climbing itself always ranked low. One year way back they even looked at climbers involved in car accidents on the way to and from climbing areas (scary! you don't want to drive home immediately after getting off the crags). One thing showing up in recent years is the number of "elite" climbers getting injured and killed is higher than lesser climbers. The conjecture is overconfidence, hubris, or something along those lines, since many of those have involved not checking some piece of gear. Statistically, this is a small fraction of the climbing community, but a very visible part. Similar thing shows up for elite backcountry skiers getting caught in avalanches, sort of an "I know this slope and have skied it many times."

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