Fatalities climb at national parks as visitors grow, funding and staffing lag

“As I was walking in with my client, a hiker was standing on a cliff and stepped backwards and fell off, and was killed right in front of us,” American Alpine Institute Director Jason Martin said.

Martin has been an avid climber for 31 years.

It’s not just freak accidents taking the lives of park visitors. Raging rivers, wild animals and severe weather can also be deadly. As national parks see more visitors, there are also more accidents and fatalities.

“That’s probably the biggest hazard for everybody being out and unprepared. Not having the right clothing, not having the right food. Being out unexpectedly, not preparing properly. Not having a map, not having the training to use the map. And going to a place that is maybe less well known.”

Martin says in the last 5 years, the sport of mountain climbing has skyrocketed.

“The number one reason is the Oscar-winning film ‘Free Solo,’ but also the access to climbing gyms in every major metropolitan area,” Martin said.

And with more climbers, comes more casualties.

“So when it comes to climbers, the biggest hazard for climbers is falling. And when we talk about falling climbers, technical climbers are using ropes. And so the way that they use the rope, if they’re using the rope appropriately, a fall is not a big deal. But if they’re newer and they’re not using the rope appropriately, sometimes, a fall could be quite catastrophic,” Martin said.

“I think it’s a lack of experience,” Steph Abegg said. Abegg is a data analyst who has been climbing for 28 years.

“Maybe the biggest danger is people who are going out there who just don’t quite know what to do and things aren’t picture perfect. So if the weather turns or if they happen to trip and get a little injured or if the elevation is a little bit more difficult to handle than they thought it would be. I guess I feel like a lot of the accidents and stuff occur from people who were a little bit in over their heads,” Abegg said.

Abegg says stricter regulations don’t always mean safety. 

“You have to get your permit so far in advance that you don’t even know if the weather’s gonna be good. And then you have this permit for this certain date, and you just go because you have it and the weather’s not good. And that bad weather and bad conditions lead to accidents,” Abegg said.

“There’s a limited amount that they can do given the staffing issues that the national parks have right now. It’s hard because they have a lot of budget constraints. And so not every park has a helicopter, for example, on call very easily. Some parks share a helicopter to pick up an injured person. And so it would be great if they had more funding, so they had the ability to monitor this stuff. Is it the park’s fault that a tree branch fell out of the tree and hit somebody? Or that a rock fell off of a mountain,” Martin said.