Should Climbers Have to Carry Tracking Devices?

Yet another storm is brewing on Mt. Hood. The Oregon mountain has had its fair share of media coverage lately, due to some very public rescue efforts in search of lost and stranded climbers. While Oregon is one of the few states that require climbers to repay the government in rescue fines of up to $500, the real cost of these missions come at a ticket of about $6000 per hour, according to Ken Mission, director of the Oregon office of Emergency Management. Eventually the burden must be passed on to someone else, and since taxpayers aren’t likely to volunteer, it looks like it’s up to the climbers themselves.

Oregon Representative John Lim has proposed House Bill 2509, which would require climbers to carry Mountain Locator Units, or MLU’s, at elevations of 10,000 feet and above. These devices cost about 5 bucks a pop to rent out from local outdoor shops – a price to high for those who think that mandating MLU’s is a mistake. Veteran mountain climbers told the House that while the carrying these devices can aid in safety, making them a requirement just “isn’t necessary.”(Oregonian)

Hm, doesn’t this sound like the time when seatbelts were proposed as mandatory? Many people moaned over the prospect, but it became a law anyway -a law that has saved many lives.

If MLU’s were required when Kelly James and his two companions hiked up Hood in December, it is very likely that they would have been found alive. James, who was a self-proclaimed climbing veteran of over 25 years, was the only man found during the dangerous rescue attempt. The last time anyone spoke to James was when he called home from his phone. The cell signal provided enough information to lead rescuers to James’ vicinity. But conditions were appalling: winds gust at over 100mph amidst a whitewash hell storm. By the time officials could reach the faint cell signal, James had died. The other two bodies were never recovered and are presumed dead.

Is this technology just a “false sense of security” as some critics have claimed? Recently, a search and rescue mission proved successful for MLU carrier Trevor Liston. While he admits that climbers hold a sense of pride for being able to manage the mountain alone, he warns the age-old adage: “things happen.” “We didn’t know it was going to be that bad,” Liston told reporters shortly after the rescue, but he had the sense to carry a tracking device in case of that rather inconvenient surprise that nature flings on us when we least expect it. But then again, when is it a convenient time for an avalanche or a windstorm? And, even if we can predict disaster, Hurricane Katrina showed us that knowledge is an entirely different thing than preparation.

Nature will always one up us, and until some reincarnate of Bill Gates or Steven Hawking gives us a technological revolution in atmospheric science, we cannot predict accidents with any absolute authority. Tragedies like the lost climbers can be avoided if MLU’s are mandated into law. While I have my indiscretions at some “self-help” or preventative laws telling us what we can and cannot do to ourselves (but cheers to the end of Prohibition!) I do believe that safety serves a higher purpose to the greater good. If more people carried tracking devices, indeed if they were required, less money would come from taxpayer dollars to pay for search and rescue missions. Harm would be avoided by not only the climbers, but the hundreds of employees and volunteers that risk their lives to find them. If you ask me, it’s better to be alive and humble, than to be proud and dead. Hopefully, the House will feel the same way and make MLU’s mandatory.