I agree with hikemor, she left too late in the day for that is considered a normal climbing strategy. I have climbed Mt. Hood and it can be a relatively easy climb but the mountain is large and there are various dangers.

I would not climb a glaciated peak alone. The main reason climbers on mountains such as this are roped together is for crevasses under a covering of snow on the glaciers, secondly for a slip on steep slopes a rope team can "arrest" a fall, hopefully.

Normally a climb in March would be considered a winter climb on Mt. Hood. It is a more dangerous season for a variety of reasons. Cold, deep snow, avalanche hazard, covered crevasses, weather conditions overall, whiteouts/fog and a shorter period of daylight, all add to the hazard of a winter climb.

Overall, this gal did some amazing things to stay alive and managed to keep her self together for an extended period and my hat is off to her for surviving in very difficult circumstances.

Something else that I find very disturbing, is the fact that whomever she "signed out" with "lost" her information. That could have meant the difference of life or death. Agencies that require you to sign out for an area of wilderness should be responsible enough to oversee that sign out process to ensure people return. Otherwise it is a false sense of security and has less value than no sign out at all.

I have myself, experienced government agencies requiring a sign out and when an emergency crops up, they have no plan or experience to provide any assistance. What is the point of the sign out?

The young lady gets high marks for surviving and especially when she became injured. The USFS and/or Timberline Lodge folks get an F for failing a climber in nearly all regards.