Unprepared hikers venturing into rough country and getting into deep doo-doo is nothing new. It is just that now it may be that extricating them is a somewhat simpler and straightforward operation. It is often easier and cheaper to send a helo to a known location than to launch several teams into a road area, knowing only that little Johnny is overdue.

The root problem is still the same - ill prepared and inexperienced people taking inappropriate trips. Education is the better answer.