I've started referring to it as
SoCal Syndrome.
I got some interesting drone footage from Trail Camp at about :35 in this video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YpG3XknYyEIt blows my mind that people would look at that ridge and at that chute under those conditions and think microspikes and two trek poles are the required kit, or that somebody would carry an ice ax all the way to fourteen thousand feet with no idea of what it's for. Why not just carry a brick?
But the same thing happens on Baldy. (no helmets in the bowl at noon while standing on melting snow over piles of scree under walls of rock and not processing how that scree got there, for example, while stones rain down...)
I agree with you 100% about the training, and i think it's partially a failure of local authorities on the subject, both commercial and government (a sign on the Baldy ranger station spelling "crampons", "cramp-ons" is just one small indicative example), and on the media reporting of tragic events up high that are incomplete and incorrect, referring to "the victims of the dangerous mountains" when in reality it's almost always a subjective hazard, not a marginally-manageable objective one, that kills or injures people, then not explaining the critical difference.
I'd love to do some sort of outreach, i just don't really know how best to make it happen. In just ten minutes, once could impart to an attentive mind enough actionable intelligence to avoid the majority of the deaths and accidents we see in SoCal and in some areas of the Sierra. On the other hand, much of time i attempt to reach out with some advice, it's met with ego and a continuation of the behavior.
Shrugs...
