Get a trail crew together, How? Who will be the sponsoring group? Who will develop a plan that has a chance at FS approval? Petitions are a waste of time.
It's be been three days and no one here has come of with better than education. Heck, it's been two years since John Likely died and no one has come up with a better workable idea.
The first this you have to do is recognize facts and not hide from them. This is the new hiker. They want to take 40 of their friends, who they met for the first time in the parking, through an avalanche zone to summit an arbitrary peak in the middle of winter with gear the can be best described as substandard. When told they need more gear, there is an avalanche zone and their group size is about 34 too large. They shrug just keep on going...absolutely no introspection.
Experienced hiker is a meaningless term. Especially when used by the media. They use it to denote competence.