How many rescues were families or individuals stranded on that road in winter conditions?
If you count the RV situation - well they walked out and brought help to them...I would hardly call that a successful SAR.
Again I want to stress - it is not that I think they didn't make the decisions they could have or that they didn't work their butts off. I know what it is like.
My biggest beef is with a couple of people in the chain of command that seemed to ignore pertinent facts from "locals". Maybe all of their perceived successes created an air of arrogance to their approach.
There was a family rescued just the week before, and a hiker in another part of the state. The family in the RV wasn't supposed to be as far up because, at least the family I remember, their camping permit did not allow it. Less than a week later, the Grandparents, who were stuck with the family, were arrested for meth production and authorities believed they had misrepresented some of the facts of their disappearance. Maybe the people in the chain of command assumed that the Kims recognized the warning signs that they would have had to pass to get stuck, and wouldn't have risked such a dangerous road.