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The article quotes a 1/50 chance of dying.

For perspective, only 1/20 suicide attempts are successful. That means that climbing Mt. Everest is only half as deadly as trying to actively kill yourself.



This is a silly mis-application of statistics. Risk in both scenarios is highly dependent on preparation and decision making.


Only when it comes to suicide, better preparation means a higher chance of dying.


Yes, that was intentional.


+1 for you then. :-)


It's not meant to be accurate. In another comment someone claimed that 2% was "low" and I'm just pointing out that climbing Mt. Everest is one of the more risky things you can do. Obviously at an individual level it loses meaning, but people often use death rate statistics that don't apply individually to assess risk in a more general sense.


My friend's dad climbed k2. It's like rolling a tetrahedron.




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