[jedc]

His family clearly supported him (based on a few other news outlets that actually interviewed them).

[gwern]

So? Are you seriously suggesting that if the family had disapproved of his mountain climbing, they would actually say so in a public interview?

'We're terribly upset and saddened and she'll never know her father, but while we're suffering in public, we'd like to mention that we were against the whole climbing thing in the first place. We told you so, John!'

[wtn]

His family was enabling his narcissism.

[jedc]

Having actually known John in real life, I disagree with your description of him as a narcissist.

[samtp]

Someone doesn't have to be a complete narcissist to occasionally behave in a narcissistic manner. Hell, we all act narcissistically from time to time (some would even say all the time).

[CamperBob]

His family made a lot of money on that same narcissism, and derived a lot of security from it.

Conversely, someone who can be talked out of climbing a mountain can also be talked into keeping his day job, and probably will be.