BobR, I have taken a considerable amount of time to respond to your post, as I wanted to give it deep consideration.
My tendency is to defer to the SAR experts, but people who are intimately involved in things occasionally get "group think" on a topic, so I would explore a little further.
I think your points about the number of deaths of climbers and SAR have great merit, although deaths of either is unfortunate.
I have been profoundly impressed by the SAR people in the marine environment, who have made their jobs tremendously simpler, through the use of technology. Their point, of making the process simpler, seems to have merit. Their popular phrase is "take the SEARCH out of Search and Rescue".
I would grant that the number of lives saved would be small. (although some would argue, what is that worth?) However, the amount of effort involved in the typical winter SAR in bad weather, would seem to be hugely simplified, if you knew where the person was.
However, the marine and mountain environments are very different, and what applies to one, may have no relevance to the other.
