If they'd had a PLB, then the call would have come through the normal channels to the RCMP, which has the responsibility for ground SAR in BC.

But in this case the initial call went into the volunteer SAR organization locally, where the local SAR manager took it upon himself to check with the resort for any sign of missing persons, and then not to notify the RCMP. Then, when the RCMP got the second report and called him, he told them it was a false alarm.

So I'm thinking a PLB or SPOT would have made a big difference in how things were handled.