How dangerous are certain outdoor sports?

Cuda1447

Lifer
Jul 26, 2002
11,757
0
71
Ive done the skiing/snowboarding stuff, lotsa fun. The wife and I have been white water rafting a few times, lots of fun. We have done indoor climbing, but are planning on doing outdoor rock climbing on our next vacation. We are also planning to get Scuba certified and do some diving. This got me thinking, how dangerous are certain activities compared to others?

At first though, I would think rock climbing would be by far teh most dangerous. But I have read some people online saying they wouldn't do any white water rafting above class 3 rapids due to its danger (we've done class 4 and 5 and it didn't seem that dangerous). I've heard other people saying Scuba diving is the most dangerous of all, but it seems that if you are cautious and don't do stupid stuff it wouldn't be very dangerous at all?!?

Of all of them, Rock climbing is by far the scariest, but is it the most dangerous?
 

MichaelD

Lifer
Jan 16, 2001
31,528
3
76
Adrenaline Junkie much? :eek:

I'd say indoor lion taming while wearing a porkchop suit is the most dangerous indoor sport. Good luck with that. Please have someone film your first outing. From mulitple angles.
 

Zeze

Lifer
Mar 4, 2011
11,395
1,187
126
I think WWW is fine. I did class 5 & 6, and it was fine. The raft guide even told us to jump into the water in the midst of batshit torrents, just keep the knees bent and feet before you.

So much fun.

I think snowboarding/skiing is more dangerous than you'd think. I always see people in a stretcher everytime I go. I had some 'oh fuck' moments. If I crashed, I would've been seriously injured for sure.

Rockclimbing should be safe as long as you know what you're doing.

I think Snowboarding/Skiing is the worst out of your list.
 

Ns1

No Lifer
Jun 17, 2001
55,419
1,599
126
More dangerous than marijuana, that's for sure

>=D
 

Sixguns

Platinum Member
May 22, 2011
2,258
2
81
What makes them more dangerous than walking down the street? I say go for it and have fun. The one time I went rafting was awesome. I believe we went through some 4's. I cant wait to go skydiving this summer!
 

Sixguns

Platinum Member
May 22, 2011
2,258
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I think WWW is fine. I did class 5 & 6, and it was fine. The raft guide even told us to jump into the water in the midst of batshit torrents, just keep the knees bent and feet before you.

So much fun.

I think snowboarding/skiing is more dangerous than you'd think. I always see people in a stretcher everytime I go. I had some 'oh fuck' moments. If I crashed, I would've been seriously injured for sure.

Rockclimbing should be safe as long as you know what you're doing.

I think Snowboarding/Skiing is the worst out of your list.


Ours told us the same thing. He even had a rope tied to the front of the raft for when we came to the really rough stuff so you could ride the front of the raft like a bull. Talk about a good time. The only weird part is after we go done, we found out that he had been drinking beer the whole time from his backpack.
 

ViviTheMage

Lifer
Dec 12, 2002
36,189
87
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madgenius.com
all of that seems OK to me ... free hand rock climbing would be the most dangerous IMO, the rest pales in comparison.

I too have done the white water rafting in class 5-6, outdoor rock climbing, snowboarding, snowmobiling, water ski, tubing, scuba, snorkel, free dive, canyoneering, jumping out of planes, blabla it's all a lot of fun...never been scared, but I could see myself being scared doing free hand rock climbing.
 
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bruceb

Diamond Member
Aug 20, 2004
8,874
111
106
They are all dangerous in some way ... for example

Auto Racing ... you can crash
Sking .. you can fall and be injured
Tennis .. hit by the ball (but not much in the way of injury)
Golf .. you can be hit by someones ball
Baseball .. hit by the pitcher's ball or the one the batter hit
Motorcycling / Bike Riding ... many injuries and sometimes, nothing you can do about it
Hiking ... you can trip, twist ankle or break a leg
Hunting .. possibility of being hit by another hunter (rare, but possible)
Boating .. you can fall out or it can capsize. Hope you can swim and have a life vest
Private Airplane Flying .. machines do fail. Sometimes you can land, sometimes not.
Skydiving ... chutes do fail (rare) but you need to land correct or risk injury
 

ViviTheMage

Lifer
Dec 12, 2002
36,189
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madgenius.com
They are all dangerous in some way ... for example

Auto Racing ... you can crash
Sking .. you can fall and be injured
Tennis .. hit by the ball (but not much in the way of injury)
Golf .. you can be hit by someones ball
Baseball .. hit by the pitcher's ball or the one the batter hit
Motorcycling / Bike Riding ... many injuries and sometimes, nothing you can do about it
Hiking ... you can trip, twist ankle or break a leg
Hunting .. possibility of being hit by another hunter (rare, but possible)
Boating .. you can fall out or it can capsize. Hope you can swim and have a life vest
Private Airplane Flying .. machines do fail. Sometimes you can land, sometimes not.
Skydiving ... chutes do fail (rare) but you need to land correct or risk injury

I know a guy who does jumps for his job, logged over 10k jumps or something, and he's had 12 chute failures, and 1 double failure...he said his reserve chute was only partially deployed, but he lived.
 

Baked

Lifer
Dec 28, 2004
36,052
17
81
The only way to be save is not doing any sports related activities. Just stick with online gaming.
 

Blintok

Senior member
Jan 30, 2007
429
0
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with this talk about chute failures. just jump with out one. dont really need one.


Now if you want to skydive a 2nd time? well then. thats different.
 

roguerower

Diamond Member
Nov 18, 2004
4,563
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25 jumpers died in 2011. That's 1 out of every 1400 licensed skydivers. The biggest causes of death are (a) canopy collisions in close proximity (<600') to the ground which result in deflated mains and not enough time to get loose, cutaway, and deploy your reserve and (b) impact on landing. Death due to shitty equipment is almost non-existent these days.

That said, 64% of all fatalities in 2011 were jumpers with >1000 jumps. 20% were student jumpers with <20 jumps.

With just shy of 150 jumps in less than a year, I've yet (knock on wood) to have a malfunction that warranted a reserve ride.
 

Ns1

No Lifer
Jun 17, 2001
55,419
1,599
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25 jumpers died in 2011. That's 1 out of every 1400 licensed skydivers. The biggest causes of death are canopy collisions in close proximity (<600') to the ground which result in deflated mains and not enough time to get loose, cutaway, and deploy your reserve AND impact on landings. Death due to shitty equipment is almost non-existent these days.

That said, 64% of all fatalities in 2011 were jumpers with >1000 jumps. 20% were student jumpers with <20 jumps.

With just shy of 150 jumps in less than a year, I've yet (knock on wood) to have a malfunction that warranted a reserve ride.

swooping seems to be the new killer rage

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/02/skydiver-deaths-perris-high-risk-manuevers.html

The death of a veteran skydiver on Saturday underscores the potential danger of high-risk maneuvers performed by the elite of the sport.

Sean Carey, a skydiving instructor, died while doing a "swooping" maneuver Saturday. He was the sixth highly experienced diver to be killed in the last year at Perris Valley Skydiving, one of the largest and most popular such facilities in the nation.

Video: Swooping over Perris, California 2005

The deaths reflect a divergent nationwide trend in the sport: Equipment upgrades and safety rules have reduced overall skydiving fatalities among novices, but smaller, more aerodynamically designed parachutes have allowed more experienced divers to take more risks.

Increasingly, industry veterans said, fatal accidents involve experts attempting advanced maneuvers with high-performance equipment -- people such as Carey, who, according to his employer, averaged 1,800 jumps a year and had won previous swooping competitions.

Last December, another experienced canopy pilot, as they are known, died making a landing error while swooping at Perris. The facility temporarily suspended swooping while it conducted a review of safety procedures.

The company's general manager, Dan Brodsky-Chenfeld, said he found that Perris' safety standards were as high as or higher than other facilities' but that he further tightened requirements.

The facility had already required that before attempting a high-performance maneuver, a skydiver had to have made at least 700 jumps. After the December fatality, it added a requirement that divers receive special training before attempting swooping.

In the wake of Carey's death, Brodsky-Chenfeld said he is again reviewing the standards.

High-risk maneuvers are clearly attracting interest among top skydivers. Among the other daredevil moves is wingsuit flying, in which people glide across the sky in jumpsuits with fabric "wings" before deploying a parachute. Another is vertical formation skydiving, in which groups of skydivers grip one another's limbs, their heads or feet pointed to the ground.
 

BurnItDwn

Lifer
Oct 10, 1999
26,234
1,722
126
Base Jumping would be more dangerous than regular skydiving.
Cave diving would be more dangerous than regular scuba diving.

Others to consider ...
BMX biking maybe?
 

vi edit

Elite Member
Super Moderator
Oct 28, 1999
62,484
8,344
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You gotta define "dangerous". Is that greatest chance of death? Bodily injury? Highest volume of injuries? Ect?

If you want to go off of pure injury...softball is pretty "dangerous" to the average lay person that exercises 30 minutes a year. They'll blow out an achilles, pull a hamstring, nuke their ACL, ect. Chances of death are pretty low though.
 

JimKiler

Diamond Member
Oct 10, 2002
3,561
206
106
Sky Diving is not dangerous and if you ask them what issues they have had before you do your first jump it will mak it seem boring. I did a tandem and the only issues were two people who got broken bones and they were near the weight limit for tandem.

Now Ultimate Tazer Ball is dangerous, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fE9CFzj_FlU