You’re ignoring the obvious inherent danger of the act as a baseline. Hiking, while not not dangerous, is significantly less dangerous than free climbing. But what if more people die hiking than free climbing? There you’re getting into per capita statistics. Significantly more people hike than free climb. Plus, there are widely varying difficulties (read: danger levels) in different hiking trails. Plus there are hikers that eschew trails altogether!

So yeah. Sorry but unless you’re 8, or thereabouts, this is a pretty dumb take.

People free climbing where death is possible are almost by definition not being careful.

Improperly placed gear, such as faulty anchors, is a common contributing factor to rock climbing accidents resulting in death.

A significant number of rock climbing deaths are associated with inadequate belaying practices.

Pretty sure these are not considered as being VERY careful.

I can assure you that some people climb without being anywhere close to what I’d call “very careful”.

To me, part of being careful includes not trusting any random unknown person or their gear.
It includes double-checking the people I trust and requiring them to double-check me.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve met plenty of great people who were careful, safe climbers.
I’ve also met a few climbers of a… weird kind, like it’s almost a caricature, but these people exist.

Climbers who could barely tie a knot, climbers that were stoned af, climbers that kept using carabiners or rope that I wouldn’t even trust to tie their dog.

Also: Even careful people make mistakes.

Related mountain climbing thought: Every corpse on Mount Everest was once a highly motivated person.

How many people that go free climbing actually fall to their deaths though? Were those people not being careful?

If you and your belayer are being careful while rock climbing, you’re much less likely to die on the wall than on the drive there (even if you drive equally carefully).

Best practices include so much redundancy, and there’s always the golden rule to not climb above your skill level or in adverse conditions.

No matter what you do, you’re not gonna live forever. Just being alive constantly puts you at the risk for death.