When I hear "experienced" in a context where the "experienced missing" is on a quest for SM publicity, I automatically go for: "they aren't".
Also, I think it takes a certain amount of humility to acquire experience that's helpful in wild areas. For instance, if you think nature is something to "conquer", and you think nature can be "conquered", you surely don't know you are wrong. This reminds me of that heart-breaking Mount Hood expedition the children of the Episcopal School in Portland OR were encouraged into as a kind of bonding, "stretch your limits", step on the way to graduation, having a meaningful education, exercise. It was part of a required program for sophomores.
The kids evidently prepared by learning technical things, like how to use crampons, and getting fit. None of it—neither the planning nor the trip AFAIK—involved figuring out what your limits are and respecting them, or acknowledging that nature is bigger than humans and you don't get to fight it successfully. And though they might have known how to put on crampons, evidently no one taught them about emergency supplies, 10 essentials, hypothermia symptoms, decision-making...
The horror as the events unrolled.... I can't get it out of my mind, all these years.
This one may be behind a paywall, but may be the most digestible write up:
About an hour before midnight on Mother’s Day in 1986, a group of teenagers assembled at an Episcopal high school in Portland, Oregon, to embark on an expedition. Their goal was to summit Mount Hood, completing an adventure program that was required for all sophomores. What followed was a story...
www.outsideonline.com
The principal of the school was evidently incensed that this story in
Outside would be published, and tried to stop it. Here is a story about that little outrage:
When Oregon Episcopal School learned about Outside magazine's November 2018 article about its worst loss, the school tried to stop publication.
www.oregonlive.com
All these years later, I'm so upset this happened. It shaped my approach to wilderness and preparation, but I could also never let go my empathy for those children who were placed in such a terrible position.