UKC

Pretty interesting study recently published about the poor air quality of indoor climbing walls (potentially) caused by the rubber particles from climbing shoes.

N.B. the paper has not yet been peer reviewed.

https://chemrxiv.org/engage/api-gateway/chemrxiv/assets/orp/resource/item/6...

Gosh, I never realised climbing could be so dangerous.

Looks like a smear campaign to me. 

You think indoor walls are dangerous?? Interesting... 

Personally I'd always assumed the amount of chalk dust floating around could cause some sort of short term respiratory problem, however I never considered that the rubber particulates could be at dangerous levels.

 > Similar to dust, concentrations in the collected aerosol PM samples were very high compared to other atmospheric environments for most RDCs (Rubber Derived Compounds)

If I was spending >8hrs a day working in an environment like this, I'd consider some PPE.

It could also bring better awareness to the importance of adequate ventilation in an indoor climbing environment, which also wouldn't be a bad thing (imo).

Oooh edgy! 

Hang on, are we saying that when it comes to poor air quality in indoor climbing centres, boot rubber is the sole culprit?

In a rand about way, yes.

Interesting.  I’d like know where they sampled from in the wall areas, as personal, breathing zone, samplers give the most accurate assessment of individual exposure.  The dust levels are noticeable, but particulates that you can see are way too large to penetrate the deep lung.  Rightly it’s the particles smaller than 5 microns or so which present the major concerns.  Climbing in an air fed hood will be entertaining. 

Indeed, but it's not the sole reason.

That's sole destroying....

thats us heel hooked erm I mean weel fooked ...

They report that they sampled both settled and airborne dust. They also distinguished between airborne dust that was inhalable (likely to be trapped in the nose / mouth)  or respirable (likely to penetrate deeper into the lungs).

For me, the main takeaway messages of it were:

- airborne exposure to rubber-derived compounds in some climbing walls could be higher than that experienced from standing by a busy city road ( and exceeded WHO guidelines)

- climbing wall employees had the highest exposure to these compounds

- if climbing walls want to minimise exposure to airborne rubber-derived compounds, they may need to clean more often, use HEPA filters or even ban certain shoe models!

I wonder if we will start to see climbing walls taking these (possibly unexpected?) results on board; and whether climbing shoe manufacturers might change their rubber formulations for shoes intended for indoor use?