You said -- "Climbing a 11k foot mountain in winter is not a "Calculated Risk". It is utter stupidity, ..."
The people around there in Oregon don't think so. What they consider utter stupidity is not the climbing of the mountain, in the first place [that's a "given"]. The stupidity is not being prepared.
BUT, if you are prepared, then the rescue just comes naturally, after the fact, because in Oregon we know that the weather can come out of nowhere, and that people need to be rescued in various kinds of situations.
So, no..., that's not stupidity around here... (being unprepared is, but they know it's impossible to be prepared for all that Oregon can throw at you).
Regards,
Star Traveler
Look, "because its there" is fine. It is the deliberate decision to do the climb in December that I take issue with.
Why not climb Mt. Hood in June? I did a lot of hiking and some climbing in the CA Sierra's, Canyonlands, Yosemite, etc. when I was a tenager/20 something. But not in winter.
Winters were saved for racing motorcycles in the Mojave/Western AZ desert. ;-)