I agree. Who decides what constitutes "a basic survival kit"? Some people might consider a knife, bic lighter, and compass as adequate. Others might think you were a fool without a 44 magnum, stove, tent, and sleeping bag. Who decides what is "appropriate atire"? Is an el cheepo plastic rain poncho OK, or do you need a $500 goretex jacket?

Also, who do you charge when the search subject isn't the one who initiated the call? Note that one of the incidents cited in the article was when the mother of the subject called because he didn't show up. The reason was that the subject decided (quite sensibly) that it wasn't wise to continue after dark, and chose to wait until morning. Are you going to bill the mother who made the call? Or the guy who made the safer choice, but then was late?

Up here a some years back, a guy didn't return on time from a multi day ski trip. His wife called SAR. The Troopers helo located him as he was skiing out with no problem. Conditions just made it slower going. He didn't need or wish to be rescued. The Troopers ordered him to get on the helo and he was flown out, essentially against his will. Who do you think they should send the bill to?

I totally agree. I believe the NPS actually refers to this as "preventive SAR". Education is best. You won't get through to all of the people, but you can get through to many of them.

I spent some time lurking on the ETS forum before I joined and started posting. I have observed many posts where people recommend carrying PLBS. Also much discussion of the merits of PLB vs SPOT, etc. But not much discussion about when to use them. The first post I made on ETS was responding to a thread about an incident in the Tietons where an apparently uninjured climber activated SPOT and was short hauled off the mountain, but his buddy climbed down on his own. No one seemed inclined to question whether it was an appropriate situation to activate the SPOT.

The reason that I posted this story in the first place was to make the point that we ourselves need to make sure we give some serious thought to when (and when not) it is appropriate to activate those devices, or use our cell phones to dial 911.