A fellow I know, Joe Simpson, somewhat famous for his mountaineering epics, quit mountaineering some time back, because of the "objective" dangers. These are the things that one had no control over, such as the avalanche that killed Alex Lowe. Or the rock that came loose in his hand that killed Pete Starr on Michael Minaret. Joe, a high level climber, realized that he had, on the average, lost one close friend a year to such dangers. He'd been mountaineering at the time for over 20 years. He shifted to rock climbing, which he thought was much safer!
Makes you think about the "accident of the moment", that you'd not anticipate, nor control in any way.
What made me think about this was the following video, which although not about mountaineering, I think makes the point:
http://www.flixxy.com/lucky-car-motorcycle-sport.htm
