Thanks for posting the article -- an interesting read. While the satellite phone option might be expensive, as NOLS themselves mentioned, they are carried/available for use by some of their adult instructors.

To give the group of kids a PLB but willingly hold back from letting them carry a satellite phone on their backcountry trek seems like a horrible lapse in judgement to me. IMHO, they are willing to risk spending the taxpayers' dime for SAR activation, but not their own money to keep the lines of communication open in an emergency.

Of course NOLS is giving everyone (including themselves) a pat on the back; no one perished and everyone was successfully rescued. That alone just saved them a heap of greenbacks from lawsuits and medical bills.

Maybe they can use the savings to buy a few more satellite phones...