"Among those who tried was George Mallory. In 1922, he was at the top of the mountaineering world, having just set a world altitude record on Everest; that expedition later earned his team Olympic medals for alpinism. But despite knowing the dangers of the mountain - several porters didn't survive the 1922 expedition - he continued to pursue the summit, ultimately disappearing on Everest's Northeast Ridge in 1924."
"Prior to his fatal attempt, a reporter asked Mallory why he wanted to climb the mountain, to which he famously replied, "Because it's there." But plenty of other people knew Mount Everest existed and had no desire to summit it. So what sets people like Mallory - we'll call them "elite risk-takers" - apart from the rest of us? Wired for adventure Biology seems to play a small role."
Mount Everest's unclimbed 29,000-foot summit became an early 20th-century obsession for Western explorers, and George Mallory exemplified that drive, setting altitude records in 1922 before disappearing on a 1924 summit attempt. Men dominate high-risk adventure sports and account disproportionately for mountaineering, diving, and skiing fatalities—86.1% in the Swiss Alps, 81.5% in fatal diving accidents, and roughly 80% in skiing deaths. Many of these deaths occurred off marked trails and with inadequate equipment. Evolutionary roles in hunting and combat, plus cultural rewards of honor and status, help explain why young males overperceive benefits and underperceive hazards.
Read at Big Think
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