She was unprepared and temps were below freezing... these two conditions alone are probably the reason for most people dying of hypothermia under similar conditions. If it was very cold, she would have been wearing warm clothing; most of the hypothermia deaths take place when air temp is between 32 and 50F, due to lack of forethought. And a 4.5 hour search was probably just a good stretch of the legs for the searchers.

"When it comes to short trips, I don't think it is a lack of gear that necessarily puts people at risk but a lack of awareness."

The people with the latter are usually the people with the former. Overall awareness of current and coming conditions, what could happen, and the mental conditioning to always take some gear along indicates a degree of common sense that most people just don't seem to have.

"Launching a full scale SAR search just because a hiker hadn't returned by dusk seems like a huge over reaction especially as the hiker has only been out on the hill for only 6 to 8 hours before calling in the Cavalry."

Thirty searchers tonight, live find. A hundred searchers tomorrow after a low-temp night, be sure to bring a body bag along. Which costs the most? Which has the worst repercussions for the park?

The rangers don't know who is out there; three guys with breaker bars and machetes can do a tremendous amount of damage just for "fun", and other steal the cactus for resale.

Sue