I use a delorme, just to communicate if need be.
There is no reason to pile on, however the media can certainly embellish a lot. A few years ago, I ran into a group of folks on a local mountain. They wanted off the mountain bad, and I guess I had a rescue shirt on or something because they asked about rescue quickly. I advised them, the easiest way off the mountain was to gain the summit and go down the other way, so I essentially guided them up and over. The experience was weird for me, because I never put much thought into the mountain , I just sort of go and make a route. Once I was done talking to them at the end, they told me they had done Ranier and Kili but guided. They thought this should be sort of easy but were in way over their comfort level. It happens.
People die all the times in the mountains, sometimes from poor decisions and sometimes from random acts. We recently lost a member of the rescue team that was a vey experienced guide and taught a lot of technical rescue classes. Although, I did not know him well, I thought he was a great guy and an extremely patient and good teacher on training exercises (because I am not a very good student). He was guiding some clients on something he could have climbed as a mutual friend said "with one crampon and a trekking pole", when some ice just gave out. RIP Mark Miller .
Anyway, the media likes stories that create chatter. This lady , it is unfortunate, because she did not make the best decisions, but it happens more often than we here, and it happens to people that make poor decisions, and people that are pros making great decisions. Likewise, a lot of people make poor decisions and survive.
