Another thought: Take non-climbers/non-mountaineers to the edge of a cliff. Without having any experience, they will automatically recognize it as dangerous and shy away from the edge. You will get this response almost 100% of the time.
Take the same person to a moderately steep snow slope. I submit that you will see a much greater variance in responses. Some will automatically recognize the slope as dangerous. But many will not--especially if they see other people on it, or the tracks of other people.
I think that snow slopes do not look automatically dangerous to many of us the same way vertical cliffs do. They look deceptively gentle and moderate. It's only with experience that we learn that moderate snow slope can be just as deadly as a vertical cliff.
That is why you see hundreds of people with no training or experience marching up or glissading down the Baldy Bowl or Whitney Chute without ice axes or crampons. If they had more experience or training would engender them with more respect and fear... For many this is a learned response. You don't see the same situation with cliffs, even those that are only third class with good handholds and footholds.
