Could a PLB have made a difference on Mt. Hood?
There is no definitive way to know if a PLB could have resulted in lives being saved on Mt. Hood or not. Weather played such a factor in hampering rescuers. We dont know why they waited so long before placing a call. It is possible that they had tried to place a call for hours before finally getting through. If this is true, then YES, a PLB would have reliably notified authorities that there was an emergency AND the location of the emergency within minutes. Further, with a PLB the group would have most likely stayed together, rather than splitting up. Had they stayed together, there is a much greater chance that some of them, if not all would have survived.
