Date of Award

1-1-2009

Degree Name

Master of Science

Department

Recreation

First Advisor

Glover, Regina

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine whether age, gender and experience level of climbers and mountaineers have a relationship to the type of accidents or the immediate cause of accidents occurring in Colorado. Through examination of the relationship between climbing and mountaineering accidents and the selected variables, insight into accident prevention, as well as information that may be useful in developing training and curriculum on rock climbing and mountaineering practices can be gained. Categorical data on five variables from 114 accident reports were collected to conduct this study. The accident reports came from the American Alpine Club's publication Accidents in North American Mountaineering 1997-2007. All accidents that occurred in Colorado from 1997 through 2007 were used for this study. The study found that males had more accidents than females. It also found that climbers in the "experienced" category had more accidents than climbers in the "little or none" category. The study found a relationship between experience and type of accident, with more experienced climbers having more accidents. There was also a relationship between experience and cause of accidents, with more experienced climbers having more accidents.

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