From a fellow IDF veteran:
Equip the permit office with the NOAA weather mock-up/Sat imaging(available on-line). When a known whopper of a storm is coming in, and folks still insist on a permit to enter the mayhem, they should be 1)forced to sign off on a yes-I-am-an-idiot form that alerts the media that they knew what was coming 2)leave an open visa draft that allows the NPS/FS/SAR to fill in the $$$ blank if/when an extraction is required. This should (hopefully) cause people to think twice before entering hazzardous conditions (and possibly jeopardizing others when things go south)
Note the mention of known hazard; we do not advocate penalizing someone for an honest-to-goodness accident in the hills.
Permitting stops at -- I believe -- the end of October; however, I have noticed that once the trail freezes up, the idiot stampede is seriously curtailed, if not cut off altogether.
