This survival situation happened last week (August 13), but I think it is relevant to many survival situations. It is a great example of why we must be prepared to wait for rescue in poor conditions and in bad weather.



Rescue is neither automatic or timely

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sounds like these people had no emergency supplies whatsoever. Flying over glaciers with no warm cloth...

4 miles in 20 hours for PJs?!
That is some serious terrain.

I always thought AK pilots were required to carry some survival gear. fleece jackets for 4, heatsheets, hats and a heat source?

Glaciers = crevasses, which you either have to go around, climb over or cross on snow bridges, if they exist and aren't too rotten. The two first methods are VERY time consuming. Crossing on snow bridges is not particular fast either - you have to make reasonably sure that the bridge won't collapse (which takes time), and skiing with proper use of safety rope isn't exactly done in sprinting tempo. It is a slow, steady trot, with constant attention from anyone in the team. The idea is that once one person falls through all the others will throw themselves to the snow and dig in with all they have. This works as long as the rope is reasonably taut and everyone is attentive.

As I under stand it each PJ had an over 100 pound pack and was pulling a sled with something like 400 pounds more. And they were traveling uphill to the crash site.

In my experience most people massively overestimate how fast they can cover ground. Given a moderate pack, less than one-third of their weight, and flat ground two miles an hour is as good as most people can manage over six hours without straining, hurting themselves, or tiring themselves to the point that performance suffers the next day.

Out of shape people, the majority of the US population, will need to go slower. People who are seriously fit will go a bit faster.

Two miles as hour is what I estimate as a good working number for the pace of a general evacuation on foot. This assuming moderate loads on healthy people, or little to no load if you include out-of-shape adults, children and elderly, and flat, easy terrain. Rule of thumb is that if you couldn't comfortable walk the path in cheap sandals your going to have to figure a slightly slower pace.