Could climbing harm your health? New research has found that air pollution in indoor climbing gyms could be "among the highest ever documented worldwide," thanks to a high concentration of potentially harmful chemicals in climbing shoes.
In a study published in the ACS ES&T Air journal, researchers from the University of Vienna and EPFL Lausanne collected air samples from bouldering gyms in Austria, France, Spain, and Switzerland, where they were surprised to find dangerously high pollution levels, comparable to the busy roads of megacities. Levels were at their highest in smaller, confined climbing venues.
