Commissioner moves to control mountain hikers

Proposal in the works to require electronic tracking devices on Mount Hood

By Jim Hart

Pamplin Media Group, Jan 20, 2010, Updated Jan 20, 2010

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There is a continuing concern that rescuers face lower odds of finding lost hikers and climbers alive on Mount Hood, when those adventurers have opted against equipping themselves with electronic locator devices.

The concern includes at least one Clackamas County commissioner, who said he wants the Legislature to mandate the use of locator beacons.

Commissioner Jim Bernard said he’ll bring this issue to the county commissioners in the next couple of months as well as the Legislature – perhaps in the next regular session.

The same issue was brought to the Legislature in 2007, after a Governor’s Task Force studied the issue in 2006. The bill passed the House, but was defeated in the Senate.

Among recommendations coming from the task force was one that denied the value of a mandate for everyone to carry beacons.

“Mandatory use of signaling technology,” the report stated, “could actually diminish personal responsibility by giving climbers a false sense of security and a false expectancy that activating a signal device will automatically result in their rescue.”

Rep. Dave Hunt, D-Clackamas County, disagrees with the task force.

“I do not agree with the notion that beacons will make people less careful and more prone to take risks,” he said. “That’s like saying it’s OK to drive 100 miles an hour in a school zone because I’m wearing a seatbelt.”

Rick Acosta, public affairs officer for the Mt. Hood National Forest, with an office in Sandy, said the task force statement means technology can never be substituted for skill, education, experience and preparation.

But Bernard is focusing on the reasons the electronic devices have value.

To get a bill through the Legislature, Bernard said he would work with Portland Mountain Rescue and Rep. Hunt, speaker of the House, as well as Sen. Martha Schrader, D, Canby.

An aide to Hunt said when a bill comes back to the assembly, it typically is brought first before the assembly that defeated it the previous time (Senate).

“I certainly will work with our local elected officials to help (the bill’s) passage,” Hunt said in a statement prepared for the Post. “I continue to believe strongly that requiring locator beacons can save lives and make rescue operations more efficient.”

Schrader was unavailable for comment on the likelihood of the Senate considering such a bill.

But Bernard seems focused on addressing the continuing problem.

“We (Clackamas County commissioners) are working on a requirement,” Bernard said, “that people carry two-way communication devices on Mount Hood.”

But there are limitations, Bernard said. On the south side, cell phones can be used, but on the north side cell phone signals cannot be detected.

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