is alpine climbing more dangerous than...

[Gary_Yngve]

I have personally known about a dozen people killed in war, and very few people killed climbing.

 

Roughly how many soldiers have you known, and how many climbers?

[Gary_Yngve]

It's amazing how everyone is "safer than average" and "mitigates risk" when alpine climbing.

 

There is some legitimacy to that, as many accidents are preventable or largely avoidable. There are still accidents in ANAM involving top-rope blunders or glissading w/ crampons.

 

There's not much one can do about objective hazard, other than stay away from it, or as Twight says, make yourself hard to kill.

 

Similarly, with cycling, many fatalities are from bike ninjas getting hit. Ride predictably and visibly w/ lights and helmet, and your chances are much better.

[ivan]

I have personally known about a dozen people killed in war, and very few people killed climbing.

 

Roughly how many soldiers have you known, and how many climbers?

i doubt it matters - common sense indicates that even REMFs have a much higher probability of getting killed in a front-less war than weekend warrior climbers - i'm in a 3rd generation family of armor-types (the only 1 of 3 brothers that had a problem being told what to do ) - those mofo's get killed just riding round their home posts w/ astounding frequency - turns out 60 ton war-hogs are inherently dangerous to everythign 'round them

[billbob]

I have experienced 18 broken bones, 9 orthopedic surgeries including a "minor" amputation, and around 15 ER visits (most from motorcycle and bicycle wrecks), not to mention the metal body parts and countless hours of painful therapy. I don't ride any more, preferring a monster truck for transportation, but I sure do love alpine climbing. Do some people need a certain level of thrill to function in today's stressful world? Maybe that's just how their brains are wired, but living without the stimulation, at least for me, is not acceptable. Quality of life means everything. IMHO, there are a lot of things worse than death.