Art of Falling
In the US there are now 50 bouldering-only gyms and several planned for 2014. These facilities represent only 16 percent of the total commercial climbing gym market, but when added to the number of bouldering areas in traditional climbing gyms, indoor bouldering is becoming increasingly popular. With this popularity the number of bouldering accidents has also risen. This is due to the nature of bouldering which involves a ground fall every time the climber falls.
These ground falls can result in sprained and broken ankles and legs, sprained or broken wrists and arms and even spinal and neck injuries. Floor padding in modern bouldering gyms has greatly improved over the last few years but there is still no fool-proof way to eliminate falling injuries.
That’s why Veracity Insurance, a major provider of insurance to climbing gyms across the country, and Futurist Climbing, a flooring and padding specialist, have teamed up to create a video that may help climbing and bouldering gyms educate their members to the dangers of bouldering falls and how to prevent falling injuries.
Cameron Allen of Veracity Insurance told us, “We believe in providing more than just insurance to our customers. Veracity is about solutions, and this video provides risk management solutions for those engaging in bouldering. Timy [Fairfield] is a great resource for how to be smart while bouldering, and we are privileged to be able to share his information with our insured’s and their customers.”
The Art of Falling video shows climbers exactly how to fall in most situations. Timy Fairfield, President of Futurist writes on his website, “The video proposes modernized bouldering-specific best practices integrating falling and landing techniques borrowed from such similar acrobatic sports as the martial arts, pole vault, high jump, gymnastics and Parkour.”
There are several bouldering gyms like The Bloc in Tucson, Arizona and Focus in Phoenix, Arizona that require all participants to go through a falling orientation. This video goes a long way to helping other gyms implement similar policies.
Photo: humanfactorsblog.org
The latest safety trend to hit the climbing gym scene is auto belay barriers. These physical barriers are designed to prevent users from unintentionally climbing without first attaching themselves to the auto belay leash. Climbers that forget to clip into auto belays have resulted in increasing numbers of accidents as the devices have become more prevalent in climbing gyms. This “unintentional soloing” resulted in the death of a climber in Texas this past September.
Belay barriers were first created by resourceful gym owners trying to reduce the risk of climber error when using auto belays. Early innovators like Mesa Rim, Vertical World, Climb Iowa and Rock Sport in Reno all designed some version of belay barriers for their facilities.
These barriers have done such a great job of reducing climber error that Head Rush Technologies, producer of the popular TRUEBLUE auto belay, has just introduced the first commercially made barrier called the Belay Gate, which retails for $40. Head Rush’s CEO, Candie Fisher, told CBJ that the Belay Gate went through a trial period at a handful of climbing gyms. They were looking to find “a design that would be noticeable both when the auto belay is clipped in to the gate (to alert people to clip in) and when the climber is climbing on the auto belay (to alert others that there is a climber above),” said Fisher. “The padded nature of the design allows for this and provides a suitable surface when someone lands. Our belay gate is adjustable, so it always looks neat and aesthetically pleasing on the wall.”
SureClip from Elevate
Also coming soon is the SureClip auto belay barrier from Elevate Climbing Walls, which just received its patent pending publication for the product. Rich Johnston, CEO of Elevate Walls, said the SureClip will be sold for an estimated $80. Johnston, who also owns Vertical World climbing gyms, said, “When we decided to put auto-belays into the gyms we needed to come up with something to alert the customer to make sure to clip in. The idea of a tarp system had been thrown around for a couple of years, but no one really took it any where. We decided it was a viable system, thus we filed for the patent.”
The idea behind the barriers is to create a physical barrier that needs to be moved before the user is able to climb. The barriers are placed over the start handholds and footholds, and the climber must transfer the auto belay carabiner from the barrier to their own harness to access the climb. Of course the barriers cannot completely stop a climber from attempting to get on the wall unclipped, but the barriers could provide a crucial reminder to the absent minded climber.
The Humanfactorsblog.com, a website devoted to the field of human factors in design, recently had an article about auto belay barriers at the Triangle Rock Club in Raleigh, North Carolina.
One characteristics these accidents share is that the victims were experienced and used the auto-belays frequently. When a procedure becomes automatic, it becomes more accurate and less effortful, but it also becomes less accessible to the conscious mind. When a step is skipped, but all other steps are unaffected, it’s especially hard to notice the skipped step in an automatic process. It functions as a guard. This adheres to the hierarchy of safety: First, try to design out the hazard. Second, guard against the hazard. Last, warn. These are in order of effectiveness. Prior to this device, I had only seen signs on the wall saying “Clip in!” (And a year ago, even those didn’t exist.) This device physically blocks the start of the climbing routes, demanding interaction before one starts climbing.
Aside from user error, the auto belays used in most climbing facilities today are exceedingly safe. Modern devices control the descent of a climber through hydraulic or magnetic eddy current braking systems which are reliable and require little maintenance compared to the first generation of friction-based braking systems.
The Climbing Wall Association has announced the selection of Monument Sports Group as their exclusive insurance provider. Monument will offer General Liability, Workers’ Compensation, Accident Medical, Property, Excess and Umbrella insurance services to CWA members under the organization’s insurance provider program.
While Monument has been providing insurance to the sports industry for over 10 years, primarily to indoor soccer centers and professional sports complexes, the indoor climbing industry is a recent addition to their portfolio. Mark Grossman, President of Monument Sports Group, told CBJ, “We have climbers in our office, so the climbing industry was always a target for us and a natural fit.” They currently insure several climbing facilities.
“From our first contact with them, we found them to be motivated, knowledgeable, and an all-around great fit for the CWA and its members. Given their extensive experience in managing programs similar to ours, Monument was the best long-term solution for our organization,” said Drew Eakins, Membership Marketing Manager for the CWA.
Monument’s President is also confident that their experience and services are a good match for the climbing industry. “We have extensive experience managing similar national programs and working directly with facility and gym owners. We think the CWA members will be pleased with the coverage and pricing of the new program. Our focus on risk management, claims handling and service will help protect the stability of the program and control long-term costs,” said Grossman.
Grossman said that Monument would focus on helping the CWA improve its members’ risk management practices, particularly around auto-belay and bouldering safety. While he indicated they were interested in putting more teeth into the CWA’s operational standards for the indoor climbing industry, he was reluctant to comment on the CWA’s role in enforcing these standards. “Our job is stabilize the program and help it grow,” said Grossman.
For the CWA, their primary goal is “to help our members continue to thrive through the ups and downs of the insurance market,” said Eakins. “CWA’s insurance programs focus primarily on maintaining the availability and price stability of coverage.”
The selection of Monument came after the CWA launched a nationwide search for providers in October of this year, when the program’s former provider, Veracity Insurance, decided not to continue its partnership with the CWA.
Climbing gyms that have active policies with Veracity should not be affected by the change. Cameron Allen, Recreation Broker for Veracity told CBJ, “There should be no effect on the current policy holders. The only difference is that it will not be mandatory to be a member of the CWA to be a part of the Veracity Climbing Gym Insurance Program.” Allen added, “Veracity has been writing climbing gyms for over a decade, we know this business better than anyone in the nation and will continue to provide insurance to the climbing industry.”
The split between Veracity and the CWA appears to stem from a difference in philosophy over risk management. “The indoor climbing industry has evolved from climbers having a place to train/climb to more of a ‘pay-to-play’ family entertainment facility. With more new/novice climbers frequenting indoor climbing gyms the bodily injury claims have increased significantly,” said Allen.
“Veracity has invested in some great loss control pieces that will be available, and benefit, our clients; training videos, auto belay safety barriers, policy & procedure reviews, etc. These items were met with reluctance when we tried to provide them to our insured’s through the CWA,” said Allen. Without these loss control mechanisms they felt the program would not remain viable.
