hey im still procrastinating about my tax return and i found this discussion to be really good also so i just have one last post before i go back to my taxes, promise. (fingers crossed smiley!)

first, on dishwasher daves quote:
‘”I do a lot of presentations about mountain sports, and sometimes share a list of dead friends to remind myself and the audience that the hidden price for the stunning photographs is all-too-regularly life itself. There are 27 names on my list. Not one of those friends died while driving to the mountains. Not one died on a commercial airline flight. To equate the risks of mountain sports to everyday activities like driving or even the chance of death from cancer is completely idiotic. Every friend on my list drove to the mountains a lot, and some even wrecked vehicles and spent time in the hospital from those crashes. But they died doing mountain sports.”

Good thoughts on this topic from Will Gadd.’

As long as Gadd would consider me an idiot for comparing (not equating actually) risks between activities, i feel compelled to point out Gadd is an athlete, not a math/science/statistician. Clearly people who died pursuing mtn sports cannot die driving, flying or any other way. Statistics is very much a valid means to compare risks of various activities, relating the number of users (exposure) to incidents, accidents or deaths, thereby assessing the ‘riskiness’ of an activity. While obviously Gadd sees alot of exposure of himself and friends to mtn sport risks, one mite note he also has some vested interest in having those sports appear as dramatically risky; it gets attention. no disrespect intended.

second, splittrippin, ‘fat girls need lovin too’ can also be expressed (with wider social acceptance and potentially more apropriately for a snow sports forum) as, ‘you cant ski powder all the time’. giggity.

finally, with the discussions about group size being mostly negative, that more people means worse decisions or decision making processes, one might look at other vocations where critical decisions are regularly made… medicine, aviation, guiding…. its very much standard in those professions that serious procedures are planned by groups. Individuals make mistakes. Open, honest and clear communication bw experts is the proven method for gettin sh!t done right. It does take time for groups to process ideas, options, conditions but in a ‘common adventure’ (ie without a designated leader/authoritay) its the responsibizzlety of each individual to participate.