Someone here on WZ has part of the JFK quote as their sig "We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard"
Take the risk out of equation and the accomplishment isn't quite the same.
Sometimes our stated motivations distort reality. For example, we chose to go to the moon not because it was hard but because we feared that the USSR would get there first.
Maybe some people choose to do Whitney under risky conditions not because it is hard but because they totally underestimate the danger. And, needless to say, the danger that their rescue will represent for others.
