Do you climb mountains? It's hard to explain the motivation if you don't do it yourself. Most people I know who have done big climbs are not trying to impress their kin. George Mallory answered the question why with "Because it's there." That's still about the best answer.
What kind of brain injury do you have to have to want to pay $50,000 to stand in line for that?
[1]https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2147998/Mount-Evere...
Take the Alps for example. On one day in the summer of 1979 12 people died on climbs around Chamonix, which is a single valley. It was a beautiful day with ideal climbing conditions around much of Mt. Blanc. I remember it well, because I was in the valley watching helicopters bringing down bodies all afternoon.
Most of the deaths were on the Tour Ronde. [1] The uppermost of 3 climbing parties fell on a steep couloir and took out two parties below them. Perhaps the first party was unqualified but the second and third parties?
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tour_Ronde#Events_and_incident...