[dagw]

There are lots of ways to go about free climbing a rock face, and many ways to make it safer or more dangerous. Most climbers I know are extremely safety conscious and go to great length minimizing the risk they put themselves in.

[bmj]

Agreed. My family climbs outdoors probably 150+ days a year, including bouldering, sport climbing, and trad climbing. While I've done some things that some might consider dangerous, it really is about minimizing risk and being in control of the situation. Certainly, it is still dangerous, but, again, much of what we do attempts to minimize the danger.

I am far more fearful when I see people randomly scrambling without any regard for their situation. I've seen people get themselves in really bad situations because they don't assess things and think about consequences.

[prawn]

Sure, but it'd be a hell of a lot safer to climb up the back slope of a mountain or run around the block. My point is that everything has varying degrees of challenge, risk, thrill, etc and these 'fight club' guys have chosen theirs.