I always felt like when I signed something acknowleding that I'm doing something dangerous, possibly fatal, that I was essentially signing a CYA note for the guide. I expect them to do their best, using prudent judgement, and understand that there are some things beyond their control. However, I wasn't signing something that said, "and when I get in a really bad situation, and I'm going to die, please don't even try to help me"

I don't think disclaimers are meant to create a negligent attitude among the guides, they still should attempt to run a safe adventure, it just covers them if TSHTF and someone doesn't make it back even with reasonable efforts on their part.

We're going rafting in a couple weeks, and some stretches are going to be Class V rapids. We'll all sign the "I could die" waiver, but, we'd all expect our guides to try to get us back in the raft if we get tossed. I don't picture them just watching us float down through the rapids saying "well, he came here for the adventure, we told him he might die"

Pathetic situation. Very poor risk management. Managing risk is one of the biggest things that you learn when you take any sort of outdoor leadership training. Duh.