Bill Yeo, the Durham man preparing to climb Mount Everest, got us thinking about risk Tuesday, as did an article we did Sunday about the dangers of downhill skiing.

Mountain climbers have probably faced one question since the beginning of time: Why? Why climb a mountain when you can do something far less risky?

The answer has become a cliche: Because it was there.

Yeo had a couple of stock answers of his own: He likes new experiences and places, plus he likes being outside. But he had another more thoughtful, even mystical, answer.

Climbing is dangerous, he acknowledged, but it’s far more dangerous to live without risk. That kind of life “kills your spirit, your soul,” he said. And he’s right.

We all need to stretch, to test our limits, to set goals and to challenge ourselves to achieve our human potential. There’s a sense of deep satisfaction that comes from successfully doing something you’ve never done before or thought you were incapable of doing.

For Yeo, it’s climbing the world’s tallest peak. For others, the challenge may be doing 10 pushups or walking two miles. For some, it may be traveling to an exotic place, learning a foreign language or even solving a New York Times Sunday crossword.

We live in an age when it’s easy to insulate ourselves from life’s challenges. We can drive rather than walk, watch TV rather than play volleyball or listen to music rather than learn to play an instrument.

What’s more, overblown, unrealistic fears can tether us to a risk-free but exceedingly dull life. After a rash of fatal accidents on nearby ski slopes, the Sun Journal decided to answer a question many people were asking: Just how risky is skiing?

The answers were reassuring: Based upon 56.9 million skier and snowboarder visits at 492 ski areas in 39 states, the fatality rate converts to 0.8 per million. So, if you hit the slopes this weekend, your chances of being killed are far less than 1 in 56 million.

Statistically, children are probably safer on a ski slope than crossing the street walking to school.

That doesn’t mean that people are not seriously injured or even killed while skiing. They are. But, statistically, the sport is surprisingly safe.

In fact, an argument can easily be made that habits associated with a safe but sedentary life can be quite “risky.”

It is estimated that 20 percent of all deaths in the U.S. are caused by diseases related to cigarette smoking. Another 14 percent are related to obesity and inactivity.

Consider this statistic: Roughly 2,000 people have successfully summited Mt. Everest, and 179 people have died trying. That’s a 9.3 percent fatality rate.

So, what’s really risky: climbing Everest or polishing off a junk-food dinner with a cigarette?

Risk is a fact of life, but it’s not an excuse for a sedentary life. Risks can be assessed, prepared for and overcome.

We don’t all need to climb Everest, as Bill Yeo does, to feed our spirit and soul. But we can all admire and emulate his approach to life – and risk.