Hobbes,
I agree w/ much of what you are saying.
However, I infer that you are saying that the danger of dying on Whitney is small compared to the dangers of riding a motorcycle in CA. If so, I do not agree. Assuming that there are 9 motorcycle deaths/7 days in CA, but how many people are riding motorcycles every day? I suspect it's in the tens of thousands. And, for how many miles or hours at a time does each person ride?
That death rate is probably very low when you compare it to the # of people that attempt to summit Whitney or compare it to the # of people that attempt to summit Whitney while attempting to ascend parts of the mountain or trail that are covered in snow or ice.
You'd really have to compare apples to apples before concluding that riding a motorcycle is more dangerous.
Anyway, it seems to me that quite a few people have been injured this year (at least since I have been reading this forum). Hopefully, more people will read these posts before attempting to engage in activity where they are ignorant of the skill required and risks involved.
