No, it was not a survival example at all. It was a will to live example. This guy broke all the rules of safety and backup. His behavior was so unpredictable that his job didn't worry about him being in or not (at least not for the first few days). But up for discussion is what sort of equipment would have saved him. Also would removing of the boulder after some time made any difference? Would the hand still have to be amputated? Again it's easy to talk after the fact but a lot of fundamental safety precautions were ingnored by him. Also he might have been prepared for everything except a 1000 lbs rock falling on his hand.

Matt