Where my team operates, SAR has just started to get some government help, although we've been around for much longer. They began supplying volunteer teams with a given quantity of helmets w/mounted flashlight and custom-made orange SAR vests.

However, many people complain about the helmets : they are too heavy and overbuilt, as if they were made for urban rescue rather than wilderness SAR (which I agree). They come with "integrated" goggles, which are basically SWAT-type ballistic goggles... But hey, can we be fussy and spit on $300+ helmets that are supplied freely to all of us?

As for the vests, they're fine and will become mandatory, but what about these volunteers that invested their hard-earned money in custom cover-alls or vests? It never ends...

I think government should fund basic expenses (gas and lunch), and provide radios which operate on a few specific freqencies for SAR missions, and that's it.

Sorry, I didn't mend to hijack the thread. It appears that even though you take every precaution in the world when attempting things such as climbing Mt Hood, these accidents will always happen, regardless of what equipment you have available.