Worldwide climbing accident reports

 

Accidents in North American Climbing 2023, from the American Alpine Club

Reading about climbing accidents is not fun.

However, it’s an important way to learn, and hopefully reduce risk and avoid future accidents.

Starting in 1948, the American Alpine Club (AAC) has published an annual summary of reported climbing related accidents in the US and Canada, titled “Accidents in North American Climbing” AAC members get this for free.

(The AAC also publish a monthly accident report “sampler” on their website, called “The Prescription”. This is free, offers an archive of recent accident reports, and is a good representation of what you’ll find in the complete publication.)


I was curious: what other countries publish a similar report?

I made a post asking about this on my Instagram. Many helpful people offered info and links about accident reports from different countries.

(Many of the reports are of course in the native language of that country. The Translate function on your web browser can get you started.)

Here’s list of climbing related accident reports from around the world.

  • If a link is broken and you know a better one, please let me know.

  • If you know a resource for a country that's not listed here, please let me know and I’ll add it.


  • Australia - Australian Climbing Accident Register, “a volunteer-only project to promote open discussion of incidents and near miss events in recreational climbing in Australia.”

  • Austria

  • Britain - the British mountaineering Council (BMC) publishes accident reports.

  • Chile - Annual review of accidents from escalando.org. Also: Book about accidents in Chile by Rodrigo Fica

  • France - SERAC, database of accident and incident reports

  • France - Understanding Mountain Sports accidents, from the Petzl Foundation

  • France - ANENA - National Association for the Study of Snow and Avalanches, avalanche related accidents

  • Germany - indoor climbing and outdoor climbing reports; (links are at bottom of page)

  • Netherlands

  • Norway

  • Spain - Spanish Mountain Federation

  • Sweden and one more

  • Switzerland - Free PDF downloads for the last 10 years or so of accident reports, in French

  • Turkey - Mountain accidents report, in Turkish.

 
Previous
Previous

How to safely shorten your tether

Next
Next

How to rappel on marginal anchors