Nick Paumgarten writes in the current New Yorker about extreme skiing and the people who practice it. Many have been killed in attempts to plummet down chutes: "steep, narrow flumes of snow that plunge like elevator shafts through otherwise impassable terrain". Among much illogic and foolishness, some great wisdom:

"Nobody goes out to die," Jill Fredston, an avalanche specialist in Alaska, told me. "Everyone goes out in pursuit of life. We make a ton of mistakes, but we usually get away with them. Luck is negative reinforcement. And you have probability and complacency working against you."

(from "Dangerous Game" in the 18 Apr 2005 issue of the New Yorker magazine; cf. DelicatePower (12 Dec 1999), MagnaFortuna (7 Oct 2003), GoodFortune (12 Dec 2004), ...)

TopicRecreation - TopicScience - TopicLife - 2005-04-19

(correlates: Ninjas vs. Pirates, GoodFortune, Financial Planning, ...)