"Have to" seems like such an excuse... Why can they not do the same things, but with safety gear? That wouldn't make it "mundane". The only reason I can see for not using a harness and safety line is feeling like you've got something to prove - either you're trying to impress yourself or you're trying to impress other people, and neither is a worthy goal compared to the cost of failure (especially for someone with kids at home).

Frankly you could make this same argument for a meth addict, "they have to do extreme things to get enjoyment", but I wouldn't buy it as a good argument for allowing them to keep doing meth.