# Any other hobby activity as deadly as climbing Everest? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 22, 2016, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-hobby-activity-as-deadly-as-climbing-everest/755396 "2016-05-22T20:28:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2016, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-hobby-activity-as-deadly-as-climbing-everest/755396/81 "2016-05-25T20:29:14Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#): > > Whitewater rafting down Niagara Falls I guess that was a “joke” but going over Niagara falls in a barrel (etc) has been tried at least 15 times, with six fatalities. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2016, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-hobby-activity-as-deadly-as-climbing-everest/755396/82 "2016-05-25T20:40:25Z")
> [@brossa](#): > > Well, technically the Case Fatality Rate for Ebola (or any other illness) does not have a time component… Yes, I agree - my question was rhetorically directed at **Colibri** , we were messing with each other about whether my joke about the “long-term fatality rate” being 100% was technically correct, the _best kind_ of correct. ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2016, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-hobby-activity-as-deadly-as-climbing-everest/755396/83 "2016-05-25T20:55:12Z")
Those death rates on the Isle of Man are based on only two weeks of racing in the year. Each race lasts around 18 minutes, each race has 72 competitors, however many of the riders go in several classes so they may get to practice and compete several races, so this reduces the total number of competitors. I reckon there might be around 600 race places, but only 500 competitors. 2 dead each year, some years you can get maybe 5 to 7 killed - that’s just the competitors, and entry requirements are such that very many entrants get turned down, simply not good enough to qualify. So if you were to set it out across a whole year and give it some perspective of just how dangerous this race series actually is, then you’d be looking at a death rate of at least 50 competitors per year, and remember, these are the experienced well trained individuals who know what they are doing - these riders in terms of numbers perhaps as many as play in the entire football league, they race for a mere 18 minutes. Add in the regular guys who are there just for a blast around, I reckon that would be a rate of at least 100 per year in total, and this is actually in a good year, in a bad year it would be up to double that figure. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2016, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-hobby-activity-as-deadly-as-climbing-everest/755396/84 "2016-05-26T13:40:41Z")
> [@casdave](#): > > Those death rates on the Isle of Man are based on only two weeks of racing in the year. Each race lasts around 18 minutes, each race has 72 competitors, however many of the riders go in several classes so they may get to practice and compete several races, so this reduces the total number of competitors. > > I reckon there might be around 600 race places, but only 500 competitors. > > 2 dead each year, some years you can get maybe 5 to 7 killed - that’s just the competitors, and entry requirements are such that very many entrants get turned down, simply not good enough to qualify. The average for the last fifteen years is 2 competitors. With 500 competitors that’s way below Everest on the per event basis I think is the more interesting. > [@](#): > > So if you were to set it out across a whole year and give it some perspective of just how dangerous this race series actually is, then you’d be looking at a death rate of at least 50 competitors per year, and remember, these are the experienced well trained individuals who know what they are doing - these riders in terms of numbers perhaps as many as play in the entire football league, they race for a mere 18 minutes. If you extend the race series you also have to extend the number of competitors to get the actual rate. I guess it’s going to be more than 500. No one is racing in a series with a 10% fatality rate per year. > [@](#): > > Add in the regular guys who are there just for a blast around, I reckon that would be a rate of at least 100 per year in total, and this is actually in a good year, in a bad year it would be up to double that figure. Which tells us jack shit without a number of total riders. ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2016, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-hobby-activity-as-deadly-as-climbing-everest/755396/85 "2016-05-26T13:59:22Z")
What’s the fatality rate of those crazy people who post videos of themselves doing things like dangling one-handed from high places, skyscrapers and the like? (And why do they almost always seem to be Russian teens?) ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2016, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-hobby-activity-as-deadly-as-climbing-everest/755396/86 "2016-05-26T18:04:40Z")
Tell you what, go and have a crack at the Isle of Man course, and then maybe go for a stroll up Everest, we await your ruling with bated breath ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2016, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-hobby-activity-as-deadly-as-climbing-everest/755396/87 "2016-05-26T18:53:50Z")
> [@casdave](#): > > Tell you what, go and have a crack at the Isle of Man course, and then maybe go for a stroll up Everest, we await your ruling with bated breath How about I instead do some research and find that the number of road deaths on the Isle of Man per year is around 8: > [@](#): > > Given the population numbers, the equivalent figure for the Isle of Man would suggest roads deaths should average just three deaths per year – but the reality is that between 2001 and 2010, 78 deaths in road traffic accidents were recorded, an average of just under 8 per year, or more than 2.5 times England’s equivalent. [http://www.iomtoday.co.im/letters/deaths-on-roads-exceed-average-1-4558935](http://www.iomtoday.co.im/letters/deaths-on-roads-exceed-average-1-4558935) Any deaths on the course outside of competition should be included in those numbers since they are public roads. Then you give some evidence other than your conjecture that there are 1000 deaths related to the Isle of Man TT, for all I know maybe they don’t count deaths while the roads are closed for the race and they are nominally closed while the “public” race the course. But just speculating, as you are doing, is not “fighting ignorance”, and, to repeat myself, even a 1000 deaths mean nothing in this comparison without the number of participants. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-hobby-activity-as-deadly-as-climbing-everest/755396.md?page=4)