I know that the year I moved away from Hawaii, they started billing people for helicopter rescues when the people went out of their way to get into trouble.
For example, if they were hiking and ignored "stay on trail" signs, walked off of the main trail, then got lost. Or if there were "no swimming" signs, and they went swimming anyways and got swept out to sea.
The real deciding factor in whether or not they are given a bill for the rescue is if they ignored warnings and posted signs or acted recklessly.
I think that's how it should be nationally, including in snow rescue situations.
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