Lead Climbing Injuries - Rock Climbing Injuries in Yosemite National Park

Rock Climbing Injuries in Yosemite National Park

In a 3½-year study performed in Yosemite National Park, California, William S. Bowie, Thomas K. Hunt, and Hubert A. Allen reviewed 451 injuries reported by 220 climbers. These injuries came from a variety of sources, but 144 climbers were injured in lead falls (65.45%).

Research was compiled as climbers were brought to the Yosemite Medical Clinic or were rescued by United States National Park Search and Rescue team. All injured climbers filled out a survey of their injuries. Nearly 227 of the 451 injuries reported were to the skin or subcutaneous tissue (the layer of fat between skin and underlying tissues). Of the remaining injuries, 127 were to lower extremities including femur, knee, tibia/fibula, ankle, and foot. Twenty-nine were to upper extremities including shoulder, forearm, wrist, and hand. Twenty-five injuries were reported to the skull/brain. Of the remaining injuries, ten were sustained by face and neck area.

This study also showed that falls are not the cause of injury; it depends on how the climber lands after the falls. The contact surface and shape determines the severity and type of his injuries. For example, in one case of injury a woman fell 100 feet and only suffered a small laceration and minimal contusions. This is attributed to the fact that she hit no rocks during her fall and the rope decelerated her elastically. Conversely, in another case, a climber fell only 6 feet but hit a sharp ledge and suffered a compound fracture of his femur. In a third case, a climber fell 20 feet but hit the ground and suffered a concussion, rib fractures, and dislocated ankle. Thus, injury severity is likely and more determined by the shape of the rock hit, the angle of impact, and which body surface hit the rock, as opposed to the length of the fall.

This study importantly points out there were a total of thirty-five head and neck-related injuries. Only four injuries related to lead climbing were fatal—all of these were head injuries. However, only 7% of total injuries reported were head injuries. Thus, it is unlikely a climber will break his neck when climbing.

Read more about this topic:  Lead Climbing Injuries

Famous quotes containing the words rock, climbing, injuries, national and/or park:

    Compare the history of the novel to that of rock ‘n’ roll. Both started out a minority taste, became a mass taste, and then splintered into several subgenres. Both have been the typical cultural expressions of classes and epochs. Both started out aggressively fighting for their share of attention, novels attacking the drama, the tract, and the poem, rock attacking jazz and pop and rolling over classical music.
    W. T. Lhamon, U.S. educator, critic. “Material Differences,” Deliberate Speed: The Origins of a Cultural Style in the American 1950s, Smithsonian (1990)

    To be seventy years old is like climbing the Alps. You reach a snow-crowned summit, and see behind you the deep valley stretching miles and miles away, and before you other summits higher and whiter, which you may have strength to climb, or may not. Then you sit down and meditate and wonder which it will be.
    Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882)

    The only thing of weight that can be said against modern honour is that it is directly opposite to religion. The one bids you bear injuries with patience, the other tells you if you don’t resent them, you are not fit to live.
    Bernard Mandeville (1670–1733)

    We want, and must have, a national policy, as to slavery, which deals with it as being wrong.
    Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)

    and the words never said,
    And the ominous, ominous dancing ahead.
    We sat in the car park till twenty to one
    And now I’m engaged to Miss Joan Hunter Dunn.
    Sir John Betjeman (1906–1984)