Hardly dead weight considering they were snowboarding off the reservation. They were going cross-country through the backcountry to another location. Watch the interview video for a better idea of what they were attempting.

Btw, my Garmin Geko 301 weighs just a few ounces and has a baro altimeter inside. It runs about 12 hours on a pair of alkaline AAA's and can use lithiums if you want the extra runtime, lighter weight and better performance in the cold. It only has a small B&W display, but that's plenty for monitoring your position relative to predesignated waypoints.