In reply to bigbobbyking:
This is a H&S issue, pure and simple.
If your employer made you, as part of your job, work in the mountains, in winter, you would be demanding absolutely every bit of PPE you could get your hands on - ABS, peeps, probe, shovel etc. Risk assessments would be taken very seriously, with local knowledge, weather, SAIS etc all documented. Training would be mandatory for the environment, and would continually be augmented.
Yet, as this is recreation, on our own time and money, all this seems to go out of the window. This attitude amazes me.
H&S cannot eliminate every risk, just as we cannot do so through common sense in real life. However, we can reduce and minimise it, and we must.
It is interesting that the ski tourers here carry gear, when they are potentially less at risk than walkers or climbers. Ski tourers avoid cornices, whilst climbers ultimately aim for them. Skiers are probably more likely to start an avalanche at the top of the slope, and avoid it, while climbers/walkers will usually be in its path, with less means to escape, and much less chance of having "PPE".
Cost should not be an issue. This is a non argument, and should be discarded immediately. Weight - I don't really buy it. Better climbers than you were carrying much more 20 years ago.
The only real discussion here is the age old argument of personal choice. I have a friend and his wife who insist on not wearing cycling helmets as they read somewhere that drivers give cyclists without them a wider berth. But what if they fall of their own accord? Laterally, I am not arguing you should be forced to wear PPE, as you are not at work, but then again, that section of society will always benefit from the fact that even with the gay abandon of free choice, our emergency services will always come and get you, assuming you are alive.