After the Fatal Fall in Soleuvre, Luxembourg Moves to Better Track Climbing Accidents

Nearly two weeks after a 37-year-old climber died following a fall at the RedRock Climbing Center in Soleuvre, the exact circumstances of the accident have not been publicly established. In that context, Luxembourg’s climbing federation says it is working with the Ministry of Sports on a system to collect and analyze incident reports — an important step in a country that still has no consolidated national data on climbing accidents.

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On June 2, shortly after 8 p.m., a 37-year-old climber fell about 23 feet at the RedRock Climbing Center in Soleuvre, in southwestern Luxembourg. He was seriously injured and taken to the hospital, where he died during the night. Prosecutors ordered an autopsy, and the police technical unit went to the gym to determine what happened. According to RTL, the man was using an automatic belay system, commonly known as an auto belay — a device that takes in slack and lowers the climber without a human belayer. RTL reported that the device was seized by police and that “the exact causes of the accident remain undetermined for now.”

Missing Data

Speaking to the Luxemburger Times, Anaïs Bourin, an official with Luxembourg’s climbing, sport hiking, and mountaineering federation — FLERA — said there are currently no national statistics available on climbing accidents in Luxembourg. The federation is now working, with support from the Ministry of Sports, to create a system for collecting and analyzing incidents and accidents.

FLERA presents the future system as a way to better understand risky situations, track how they evolve, and strengthen prevention. The federation already has a safety commission and has published two best-practices guides online: one for climbers, the other for operators of artificial climbing structures.

In an interview with RTL Today, FLERA president Jacques Welter said the federation analyzes accidents in detail. He cited, among other cases, an accident that took place in October 2025 in Berdorf, which was reviewed to determine whether structural changes were needed. He also said a best-practices document had been prepared and distributed to climbers and gyms, with posters planned for climbing areas.

The lack of consolidated data weighs on an already sensitive debate in Luxembourg. RTL Today recently interviewed Gilles Gardula, who was seriously injured several months earlier in an accident in Esch-Lallange. Gardula is calling for a stricter framework, modeled on traffic rules, with training and skills validation. The same article also reported concerns from some local clubs, which worry that too much regulation could make climbing harder to access.

Gates at the Base of Routes

Neighboring France has recently documented similar accidents. In its September 2025 prevention and safety bulletin, the FFME — France’s climbing and mountaineering federation — published a specific warning about auto belays. The federation said it had recorded three ground-fall accidents linked to climbers forgetting to clip into an auto belay, all with serious consequences: two during supervised speed-climbing sessions, and one during unsupervised lead or roped climbing practice.

The FFME also warned that “the increasing number of auto belays in climbing gyms and how easy they are to access” should not make climbers forget the basic safety principles of roped climbing.

In its updated 2025 safety rules, the FFME draws a distinction between independent climbing and supervised climbing. For independent climbers, it recommends asking another person to check the setup before starting up the wall. In supervised settings, that third-party check is mandatory. The document also restates the basic checks: harness correctly positioned and tightened, attachment point consistent with the manufacturer’s instructions, connector locked, and no obstacle in the fall or lowering path.

Other federations have also addressed these devices. In Norway, the national climbing federation published specific recommendations in 2024 after several incidents involving climbers who started up without clipping in. In a lessons-learned report published by the UIAA, the Norwegian federation recommended, among other measures, physical gates at the base of routes, systems designed to reduce incorrect clipping, and separate areas for auto-belay climbing.

In the United States, the Climbing Wall Association also recommends specific oversight for auto-belay use. In its position paper, the CWA says gyms should, at minimum, provide dedicated orientation, evaluate users, document those orientations and evaluations, and install appropriate barriers or gates at the base of routes.

None of these examples establishes what happened in Soleuvre. But they do show that, elsewhere, auto belays have already generated specific incident reviews and safety recommendations. For Luxembourg, where FLERA says it wants to create a system for collecting and analyzing incidents, the challenge now will be to document not only accidents, but also near misses — so prevention can be based on stronger evidence rather than scattered reports.