Background and aims Extreme sports athletes are often labeled "adrenaline junkies" by the media, implying they are addicted to their sport. Research suggests during abstinence these athletes may experience withdrawal states characteristic of individuals with an addiction (Celsi, Rose, & Leigh, 1993; Franken, Zijlstra, & Muris, 2006; Willig, 2008). Despite this notion, no research has directly e...

Lower body fat percentage is positively associated with climbing performance. This may lead climbers to practice unhealthy diet restriction when no sport-specific nutrition information exists. This study examined whether prolonged diet restriction affects body composition, oxidative stress, or other potential health risks in outdoor rock climbers. Two healthy male climbers conducted a 5 week ro...

All 67 of the competitors at the first British Open climbing competition were examined for signs of previous or present hand injury. The most important clinical findings were that 26 per cent of the climbers had signs of previous injury to the A2 pulley of the ring finger, and that fixed flexion deformity of the proximal interphalangeal joints of the fingers was present in 24 per cent.

Memetic algorithms (MAs) are meta-heuristics that join genetic algorithms with hill climbing. MAs have recognized success in solving difficult search and optimization problems. Hyperheuristics are proposed as an alternative to meta-heuristics. A hyperheuristic is a mechanism that chooses a heuristic from a set of heuristics, applies it to a candidate solution, and then makes a decision for acce...

An 8000-m peak bring challenges of extremes of hypoxia and weather as well as the normal hazards of climbing itself. These challenges have taken a severe toll: 604 mountaineers have died on those great peaks since 1950. Little is known about whether mountain height, use of supplemental oxygen, or team size might influence rates of death or of success. However, such information may provide insig...

OBJECTIVES To determine the frequency of overuse injury in indoor climbers, the common sites of such injury, and the factors that influence the probability that a climber will have sustained an overuse injury while climbing indoors. METHOD A semisupervised questionnaire was used to survey overuse injury in 295 spectators and competitors at the Entre-Prises World Climbing Championships held in...