Perhaps the only sure way of preventing people from walking into danger on the Whitney trail wouild be to post rangers at the trailhead to prevent hikers from continuing. That would have been possible in the old USSR, but this is a free country; that idea would never fly. Just think of the law-suits! Unfortunately, people are free to do very stupid things. It's a pity that others have to put their lives on the line to rescue them, but that's a fact of hiking life.
