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mauta
Jan 9, 2002, 3:17 PM
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Registered: Dec 11, 2001
Posts: 177
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Hi,
i want to know aproximatively, from the total of climbing deaths, what percentage is not responsability at all of the climber and his partners. In others words, how many fatal climbing accidents could not have been avoided or prevented?
For instance, climbing gear in good condition failing, big rock falls, avalanches in a not likely place, etc.
Thanks for your opinions,
JUAN
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paulc
Jan 9, 2002, 4:01 PM
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Registered: Jul 25, 2001
Posts: 464
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Not having my copy of the latest Accidents in NAM, I can't really tell you a firm number I would estimate at less than 25% though.
The main natural hazards are avalanche and rock fall, followed by exposure and lightening.
Now this all depends where you are. If you are in Red Rocks or Zion then you are unlikely to get caught in a 'lanche, but rockfall is a possibility.
Also keep in mind that there are times when a natural hazard can be seen ahead of time and avoided. I would probably count this as a human error situation as the climbers could have done something about the situation. If you are climbing on crap rock then you take the risk that rocks will fall on your mellon. If you are climbing on granite then the likely hood is a lot less and therefore I would call than a natural hazard type of accident.
It kinda depends on your definitions.
Paul
If anyone is really interested I will try to dig up some more stats regarding this issue, either from the AAC site or out of the book.
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kman
Jan 11, 2002, 8:10 AM
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Registered: Oct 16, 2001
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It's a rather general question. Well said:
"Also keep in mind that there are times when a natural hazard can be seen ahead of time and avoided. I would probably count this as a human error situation as the climbers could have done something about the situation. If you are climbing on crap rock then you take the risk that rocks will fall on your mellon."
I have a copy of ANAM infront of me so I will do my best to break it down for you. Don't have much time to do this right now so I won't go into detail.
Between 1951 and 1999 there were a total of 5829 REPORTED accidents in North America ( Canada and US ) of which 5074 occurred in the states and 755 in Canada You americans are dangerous Out of the total 5829, 4930 people were injured and there were 1453 deaths. There were too many contributing factors for me to list. And some may argue that some of these causes were / were not avoidable, so I won't get into it. I'll list a few causes of injury / death though.
avalanche - 373
exposure - 254
lightning - 47
equiptment failure - 13
Statistically, September seems to have the highest amount of accidents with the fewest in December. For immediate causes of injury, fall or slip on rock takes a whopping first place with 2856. Next is 1015 caused by slip on snow / ice. And third, falling ice, rock, or object with 641.
Hopefully this answers some questions you may have.
Kman
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