Too dangerous for Mt. Rainier search

MOUNT RAINIER NATIONAL PARK, Wash. – It’s too dangerous right now to search for the bodies of six climbers who likely plummeted to their deaths while attempting one of the more technical and physically grueling routes to the peak of Mount Rainier in Washington state, park officials said Sunday.

Like others who have died on the mountain, there’s a possibility the two guides and four climbers believed to have fallen 3,300 feet from their last known location may never be found, they say.

“People are very understanding that we cannot risk another life at this point,” Patti Wold, a Mount Rainier National Park spokeswoman, said Sunday. Read more.

Mountain climbing seems to be a risky and expensive hobby. What do you think compels climbers to tackle the peaks?