In this case one, two or three of those would have been very, very useful. And they have serious limitations.

The way they work is thusly. One purchases or, more usually, rents one. Wears it. In the event of trouble, one pulls a cord which is easily to grab with gloves on and much easier to find than a switch, and it starts transmitting.

It sends out a signal which is relatively easy to track. So far, so good.

No one listens for that signal until someone reads a formal climb plan somewhere and decides the climber is long overdue. That can be quite a while. If one leaves on Saturday morning for a longer hike and climb, coming back on Monday night, no one is going to be listening until Tuesday morning, at the very earliest. If one got hurt on Saturday night, that could be quite a while. And I had a Ranger almost tear up a climb plan of mine after he decided no one would be on the mountain in such weather. THAT'S when one might want someone listening. With informal reports that can be even longer. However, better late than never.

There is no other information in that signal than "here I am". Nothing about why it's on. That's good information, not much information.

The alternatives for most people on Mt. Hood are cell phones, GMRS radios and CB sets. In the old days I took a CB set with me, could talk as far away as Portland on it with no trouble. Above the tree-line, Mt. Hood has great cell phone coverage. And 5-watt in GMRS radios will work for a surprising distance, lots of people have them, and they have an emergency default channel to which other radios will tune if they receive a signal. Voice can carry a lot of information a simple beep doesn't.

My stocking stuffer Christmas present "From Bowser, To Bowser, With Love" is going to be a Morse Code practice key and learning program. It turns out that there are Morse nets on 20 and 80 meters which are active 24/7. Very inexpensive and light transmitters/receivers are available and one of those would just about guarantee communications from anywhere in the US. Cheaper than a Sat phone for emergencies, one could arrange to get information from a kind soul out there, too.

But in short, the ELTs in a populated area aren't all that great. On a more remote mountain, even Mt. Adams, they could be superb. But I'd still rather have a GMRS or CB with lithium batteries in those areas. The 5-watt in CBs are reasonable heavy, though. Come to think of it, I've talked on cell phones from the summits of St. Helens and Adams, both, but couldn't lower down.

Arf