Ling Dao's accident happened Wednesday of last week. The previous Sunday (four days earlier) a friend and I summitted via the MR and descended via the main trail.
My initial reaction is that it is difficult for me to see how this could have been a mistake. There was a well-trodden boot path that went directly to the hut and this was what almost everyone was using. It did not follow the trail. It bypassed the section of the trail that jogs to the west and then east again-- that is, the section that contains the junction with the walk-off traverse.
We need to get more information regarding exactly where the accident happened (was it on the walk-off traverse variation of the MR, or on the "Final 400" couloir?) But we should consider the possibility that he intended to descend to via the MR.
Either way it would be amply obvious to anyone that they are NOT on the trail and NOT going back the way they came. I don't see how additional signage would have prevented this. And since the trail was buried in snow, not even people using the walk-off traverse would necessarily go by the junction (and any sign placed there.) I should add that the snow was think enough to bury signs in some places.
I think the FS was adequately briefing hikers, informing them that the trail was buried in snow and they were facing winter mountaineering conditions. This was indeed the case.
Short of closing of access to the mountain, I do not see how the FS can stop these kinds of accidents in these kinds of conditions. (Do not laugh--this has happened with Mt. Baldy. There have been times when the FS has just shut down all access do the mountain for this reason.)
