Every year, the German Alpine Club (DAV) and the climbing gym association KLEVER publish an analysis of accident data from climbing and bouldering gyms in Germany and Austria. We have summarized the most frequent causes of accidents and injury patterns for the reporting year 2025.
Together with the Climbing Hall Association KLEVER raises the DAV safety research an annual statistic on Accidents in climbing and bouldering gyms. The new figures for 2025 are now available. From 341 reported accidents wurden 252 accidents evaluated*, in which an ambulance service was deployed or at least one moderate injury was recorded.
*The analysis only includes accidents requiring emergency medical services or hospitalization, as a reliable data basis exists for these cases. Since it can be assumed that not all sports halls report their accidents equally, a significant number of unreported accidents must be assumed.
In this article
- Slightly fewer accidents overall; bouldering remains more suitable than climbing.
- Mostly moderate injuries, one fatal accident
- Climbing: serious accidents mostly occur during lead climbing and lowering
- Bouldering: Falls onto mats are the most common accident scenario; other injuries occur in young and old alike.
- DAV appeals to collective responsibility and safety culture
- All results available for download
Slightly fewer accidents overall; bouldering remains more suitable than climbing.
With 252 accidents reported for the year 2025, slightly fewer serious accidents were recorded than in 2024 (261 accidents). While bouldering happened 174 accidents, which meet the entry criteria for the evaluation, 68 accidents occurred during climbing. (including eight accidents involving auto-belay devices). Accidents in the bouldering gym accounted for almost 70 percent of all accidents – as was the case the previous year (around 75%).
Other accidents (4%) affected These included injuries in the hall's surroundings, training area, or during play. Head injuries were reported to two children in the children's area and to three facility users who tripped on walkways and in changing rooms.
Mostly moderate injuries, one fatal accident
In most of the accidents, moderate injuries (bone fractures, head injuries, severe ligament injuries, etc.), followed by minor injuries (Sprain, strain, bruise, etc.). Serious injuries (e.g., traumatic brain injury, open fracture, spinal injury) made up the third largest, but far smaller, share.
One and only fatal accident In the reporting year 2025, a fatal accident occurred while climbing using an automatic belay device. The person had not clipped in and died in a ground fall. The two fatal ground falls in 2024 were also due to... Binding errors arrived, one of them also on a self-belaying device. The German Alpine Club (DAV) points out the need for particular vigilance when using autobelay systems:
The use of auto-belay devices requires a high degree of attention. In all five falls from auto-belay devices during the reporting period, the decisive factor was not the technology, but the human element.
DAV Security Research
Climbing: serious accidents mostly occur during lead climbing and lowering
Of the 68 climbing accidents considered in 2025, most occurred during lead climbing (46%) and lowering (22%). In more than half of all Of the documented accidents, 53% involved a fall to the ground.Other accident outcomes included bouncing off the wall (26%) and sports injuries such as shoulder dislocation or entanglement in the rope (16%).
The German Alpine Club (DAV) describes the high percentage of falls to the ground during lowering (44%) as "alarmingly high" – especially since, theoretically, this could lead to serious injuries. There was no free fall potential. Of the 15 falls to the ground during lowering, twelve occurred due to... uncontrolled rope passage through the belay deviceOne fall to the ground during lowering occurred due to a combination of a rope that was too short and a missing knot at the end; another was caused by a failure of the tie-in knot. A further incident remains unexplained.
Even when Lead climbing In 2025, a total of eleven landslides occurred. Eight of them happened during when attempting to clip the rope into the fifth to seventh intermediate anchor pointsHalf of the falls to the ground while clipping were due to errors or distractions by the belayer.
Regarding the types of injuries, falls from the floor proved to be particularly serious: 8 out of 15 falls from the floor resulted in moderate injuries, and three in severe injuries. In accidents involving single injured body regions, the legs (n=22) and trunk (n=17) were primarily affected; in 13 cases, multiple injuries were present (for example, damage to the spine and additionally to the extremities).
Overall, injuries in climbing were less frequent in absolute terms than in bouldering, but they were often severe. Of 25 serious to fatal accidents, only four were due to bouldering injuries.
Bouldering: Falls onto mats are the most common accident scenario; other injuries occur in young and old alike.
Of the 174 bouldering accidents considered in the reporting year 2025, Mat falls With 155 cases, falls accounted for the majority (89%). Resulting injuries affected the lower extremities in almost half of the cases (46%). Particularly striking: In 17 percent of the accident reports, it is explicitly mentioned that a fall from the mat occurred while attempting to reach or hold the top hold – i.e., at a great height. The German Alpine Club (DAV) explicitly points out the need to counteract this problem in commercial route setting.
In recreational route setting, care should be taken not to create the main difficulty of a boulder in moves that are difficult to control at maximum height, especially not dynamic moves to the side.
DAV Security Research
The majority of the analyzed accidents involved the 21- to 40-year-old age group, who very likely represent the largest proportion of bouldering gym visitors. Bouldering injuries that did not occur during falls onto the mat predominantly involved... Dislocations of the shoulder or knee (6%), less frequently a Collision with a wall or a volume (3%).
While ankle sprains are the most common type of accident overall, this seems to be more prevalent among older climbers. Children and adolescents suffered significantly more (>80%) upper extremity injuries in falls on mats. which the DAV attributes to a higher center of gravity and different fall reflexes.
DAV appeals to collective responsibility and safety culture
The conclusion of the DAV safety research: Too many serious climbing accidents occur because the partner check or in the case of self-protection circuit breakers Self-check are not being carried out consistently and conscientiously. The association's appeal: Employees should set a good example by performing checks – and climbers should bear in mind that this Failure to perform a partner check in the event of an accident can have legal consequences. may have.
Too many serious climbing accidents happen because the partner check or in the case of self-protection circuit breakers Self-check not carried out consistently and conscientiously.
DAV Security Research
The way food is Incorrect operation According to the German Alpine Club (DAV), errors in the use of belay devices, such as violations of the brake hand principle or insufficient control of rope slack during lowering, are a frequent cause of ground falls. The association points to training and further education opportunities and available resources, and calls for a "lived safety culture, including a culture of addressing errors" for better prevention.
Since 2025 is also the The majority of documented accidents are falls onto mats while bouldering. Regarding the issue, the German Alpine Club (DAV) emphasizes various measures for accident prevention. This is possible both on the part of the users of the facilities (e.g., downclimbing instead of jumping where possible, proper falling techniques) and on the part of the operators (e.g., route setting tailored to specific target groups, downclimbing options).
More resources for safe climbing from the DAV:
- Information on fall and safety training
- Video: How to climb properly with auto-belays
- Securing with weight difference
- How to stop sport climbing falls correctly
- Video: How to use safety devices correctly
All results available for download
The complete results of the accident statistics for climbing and bouldering halls 2025 are available for digital download.
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Credits for cover photo: Jens Klatt / DAV