I do not know enough of what transpired on Mt Hood to judge the climbers, so I won't. Any activity like this needs discipline to know when to abort. They may have had that discipline but their back-up plan failed with Luke Gullberg's fall. We do not know what transpired to put Luke in the position of retreating solo. Lots of unanswered questions.

From the article:
Quote:
. . .Helicopters, including an UH-60 Black Hawk, were sent to the mountain to help in the search.

Strovink said the three climbers were well-equipped and experienced but were not carrying a locator device. Search leader Rollins said a locator device would not have helped in this rescue.

"This is not a case where beacons would have made a difference," Rollins said. . . .

If he is referring to the recovery of Luke Gullberg -- fine. But I don't understand how he can say that for the group as a whole since he has yet to find two of the hikers. The jury is out as to whether a beacon would have helped, but it couldn't have hurt.
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Better is the Enemy of Good Enough.
Okay, what’s your point??