January through April offers the best climbing on Mt. Hood for the experienced mountaineer. From the rarely done Yocum Ridge or Eliot Headwall, to the popular Sandy Headwall, this time of year is prime time. Now the State of Oregon requires you to ca
rry an electronic locator device (GPS, PLB, or similar device) AND a two-way radio during 3 of those months. Now I will usually bring a GPS, but the idea of being required to bring something that gives you immediate communication to the outside world in a WILDerness is an invasion of liberty and freedom! For myself and many, many climbers, a major attraction to the climbing experience is that complete and full reliance on one's own self and having no communication with anyone else in the world. Some argue that you don't ever have to use it if nothing happens. Others say it is to help reduce rescue costs and ultimately taxes. So what's the big deal...? Well first, the total cost of all NPS rescues averages $3.5m a year with overnight hikers accounting for the biggest percentage. Mountaineers account for only 2% of the number of ALL rescues made (though mountaineering rescues are the second costliest). Compare $3.5m to our government's 2007 spending budget of $2.8 trillion. Second, more idiots with more rescue options will mean more rescues. Look at all the rescues in the Alps. Third, who wants to stuff extra things into an already burdensome pack. And the most important reason we shouldn't tolerate this: it will eventually lead to more regulations in more wilderness!Thanks Uncle Sam, for letting us use "your" wilderness.
An individual, or at least one individual in a group,
who engages in mountain climbing in the month of
November, December, January, February or March on
Mount Hood at an elevation above 10,000 feet shall
carry a 2-way, electronic communication device AND:
(a) A global positioning system receiver;
(b) A personal locator beacon transmitter;
(c) A Mount Hood mountain locator unit; or
(d) Other comparable device.
Source
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