I feel more sadness for folks who sit life out on the couch...that don't have a passion for life...so afraid of death that they run from the things that might end it.
Most folks I know commit suicide bite by bite (of food, that is). They sit in front of the TV as their arteries fill up with placque.
This climber prepared. He was fit and able...
Life is dangerous. It is most vivid at the edge.
This guy knew very well that this climb might kill him. He was a fighter. He might have died...but he was a winner because he died trying.
Dying ain't the worst thing...living in fear is much worse.
however, if I had a loved one who was part of the multiple rescue teams working Mt Hood, and something happened to him, what explanation is there for that?.....my loved one dying or becoming injured trying to help out the "adventuresome" climbers?.....
a few years ago, I think on Mt. Ranier there was a rather spectacular helicopter crash trying to "save" some hikers....
There is no nobility in dying from stupidity - dying for nothing, and hurting your family in the process, and also causing others to risk their lives.
Not all people have to take serious risks with their lives in order to feel alive.
You say he was a fighter. Fighter of what? A self-created disaster? Other than ego-stroking and/or personal gratification, what benefit would he derive had his climb been successful? What benefit does his family derive from his unecessary and completely avoidable death?
You have a point, he may well have died thinking, "Yeee-haw!!! Hypothermia! What a way to go! I win I win I win!!!"
Not everyone is going to get on his knees and pray for forgiveness for his selfish hedonism and the heartbreak his untimely death will cause his family.
If you have to live dangerously, try doing something that saves people rather than something that obliges them to risk their lives to save you.