RESPECT snow! It may just be water with attitude, but it has no feelings. It WILL kill you if you do not treat it with extreme deference.
Local officials decided to crank up the tone of posted alerts and warnings about attempting the Napoleon Pass if there was snow on the ground after repeated mountain rescues of folks from all over the world. This is serious stuff folks! It is NOT Euro Disney. People get hypothermia, if they are lucky, or suffer serious injuries, or worse, every year.
Local governments, already in tight fiscal conditions cannot afford to go out and rescue every ill prepared, ill trained or inexperienced hiker or pilgrim they encounter. That is why both the French AND Spanish jurisdictions, all along the Camino have resorted to billing rescued hikers and pilgrims if their situation is determined to have been a case of "you should have known better..."
When all other measures to protect people against misplaced hubris, hitting them in the proverbial wallet gets the point across every time. It also sends the message that this is in fact a life and death issue and the authorities have simply had enough with stupid, over confident, or ill prepared pilgrims.
As an FYI, I have spoken with pilgrims who related stories of friends or members of their "Camino family" being billed for rescue all along, at least the
Camino Frances. One "famous" story dates from mid-May 2013.
Two male pilgrims coming off Cruz de Ferro proceeded to take the arrow-marked path through the woods, despite the fact that it was actually snowing and there was already about 10 cm of wet snow on the ground. All the other pilgrims walked single-file down the winding road, facing oncoming traffic. These two made a verbal, conscious decision to "suffer like a true pilgrim..."
The snow had obscured the arrows and the pilgrims had no idea where they were. They were also wearing short pants and blue jeans, respectively. Only one had a mobile phone and knew to dial 112.
Rescuers found them before they succumbed from hypothermia. I was told they were presented a bill for €1,500 for their rescue in the hospital emergency room.
The version I heard had these "bright stars" leaving the country less than 24-hours later. Who knows if they paid up? I doubt it.
From what I knew first-hand if these two folks, €1,500 was likely more money than they had ever seen in one place at one time in their lives. One presumes they got the message: "Stupid is not only painful, it is expensive..."
Now, there is simply no excuse. If the rescue teams retrieve your remains from the Napoleon Pass because you did something dumb, well, I guess you avoid paying...