Morbid Mountaineering Statistics

August 12, 2006 12:03 AM

I am doing research for a design project into the dangers of mountaineering however I have been unable to find worldwide statistics on the number of people who lose their lives in the mountains each year. Can anyone help with this? Also a breakdown of the causes of death would also be very helpful. Sorry for asking such a morbid question.
posted by knewstubb to sports, hobbies, & recreation (6 comments total)

Here's one about fatal accidents at extreme altitude (British expeditions 1968-87). Not comprehensive, but it does break down the results by cause.

This one lists deaths on Everest (199-2001), but with no breakdown.

This one sorts alpine accidents in Canada by cause. I found it by skimming a climbing site's list of links to other sites.

Haven't found any worldwide statistics.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 4:54 AM on August 12, 2006

The Everest note should have said (1922-2001).
posted by Kirth Gerson at 4:56 AM on August 12, 2006

Hard to find global numbers but can you extrapolate from this?

Forty-nine climbers enrolled in the study. Baseline findings revealed that 44 (90%) climbers had been involved in the sport for more than 5 years and 23 (47%) climbers had been involved in a total of 33 accidents. At 4-year follow-up, results were available on 46 (94%) climbers. There were nine further accidents and four deaths from climbing misadventure.

Everest stats here (pdf)

Here is an interesting discussion of how hard it is to get relevant numbers. "...because so few people are involved and the death rate varies so widely -- long periods of zero punctuated by spikes of horribly high fatality rates."
posted by CunningLinguist at 5:47 AM on August 12, 2006

The American Alpine Club publishes a yearly issue of "Accidents in North American Mountaineering", which documents most major wilderness accidents as reported by their members. It's been published for at least the last 20 years. My father is on the safety committee and therefor reports most of the incidents in the southeast. It's showing up on Amazon, and you may be able to get it through a research library.
posted by virga at 6:22 AM on August 12, 2006

I second "Accidents in North American Mountaineering". The American Alpine Club also has the AAC library with excellent librarians who are experts in mountaineering research. The librarians should be happy to help if you are (or would consider becoming) an AAC member.
posted by fieldtrip at 4:43 PM on August 12, 2006

Anecdotally, I witnessed a mountain death just yesterday. We were at approximately 2,333 meters at Nockalm, just below the peak at Königstuhl (in Austria). An older gentleman, on vacation with his wife, had a heart attack while ascending the mountain (more of a hike than a climb). There were 2 nurses in my group of four, but we arrived too late on the scene, as did the rescue helicopter that was called in. I guess I'm still a little shaken by the event.
posted by syzygy at 9:01 AM on August 16, 2006