Like everyone here, I'm glad they made it. No doubt their survival course was a significant factor in this positive outcome.

Still, there are many worrisome details. Indications of inexperience perhaps? They were going deep into a little travelled area in the off season, in the Canadian Rockies, at a time of year when snow at higher elevations is common. Had they prepared for that possibility?

While seeking shelter, they got themselves wet, and then into an impossible situation. This amplified their problems. Perhaps the terrain left them no alternative?

They don't appear to have had individual kits, but rather were sharing critical items (knife, metal water bottle, firestarter). If they had become separated, would they have made it out?

Others have correctly noted the lack of basic signalling equipment. Navigation is also part of the picture; noting general direction on the way in can be a big help in finding the way out.

Despite all this, they deserve credit for positive actions and attitude in a difficult situation. We have all learned critical lessons the hard way.

Often getting lost is a result getting flustered at something new resulting in unclear thinking. Sometimes it's best to go slow and think things through.

I've seen this before though. . . at the first unscheduled snowflake I'd've been turning around looking for a cup of cocoa at that diner we passed on the way up. . .

Not me! I know of nothing more peaceful than a cold calm day in the woods when it's snowing. Sky and land are one, and you can hear the snow falling. Poet Laureate Robert Frost wrote a poem about it.........

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Day

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

There is something in this: when you are prepared for snow, it can be beautiful and utterly magical.

Mr. Frost's work is not new to me. And I have railed and raved at the abuses of his quiet, perfect words. Both by the haughty and angry poets du jour; but more usually by well-meaning and sloppy misquotes "... I took the road not traveled by ..." etc.

The last stanza is very much my personal anthem. I had rather forgotten it; thanks, Byrd.

Key word there is "unscheduled". . . means the weather report is wrong. How wrong is it? Spent many days in out the cold and snow, but that was scheduled. . .

At the time I didn't think of the PSP; I forgot the contents of it. Which is kind of silly since it's one of the products that lead me to ETS. That would have been a cheaper way to get all that stuff. But at least now I'll have 2 of the whistles, for 2 different kits. Still need to get the signal mirrors, and I hate to gut a PSP just for that and the sparker.

A reminder that the seemingly innocuous dayhike requires a prudent, minimum-level kit just like longer outings. This page on Bruce's Boreal Wilderness Institute site speaks to this:

"Decide what critical survival items you need and always carry them, not a small placebo kit filled with trinkets and toys. What you take into the wilderness is critical to your survival, although your most precious possession is the mitigative learning and experience in your brain."

Further emphasized here 15 Critical Items for Wilderness Survival : "Always carry the first eight items, even on short day trips."

The various "Ten Essentials" lists (often containing 15 or so items) are excellent aids for wilderness preparation, but they need to be tweaked for prevailing environmental conditions. I perused Byrd Hunters fine list and gasped, "He has no canteen! He's gonna die out there." Well, he would in the arid Southwest, my home range, but this is not the case in Lake Wobegone country, where the problem is likely to be too much water, rather than too litle.

Doing SAR in Southern Arizona, I kept a backpack ready to go, so that all I had to do was dress, grab it, and go. During the winter, it had lots of warm clothing and gear designed to cope with the prevailing subzero winter conditions in the nearby mountains. In the summer, it became a giant water bottle, with band-aids and snacks.

You almost always need the ability to light a fire. It provides immediate warmth, soothes and centers you psychologically, and signals your presence very effectively, as well as being useful for cooking and water purification.

I recently developed a little list of my "Ten worst nights in the woods." In all but one of them, lighting a fire was the most important act I took. In the top two, it may well have been a life or death matter.

Most importantly, none of these survival toys mean anything if you don't have the ability to use them effectively. Knowledge is the ultimate light weight hiking appliance.

With appropriate skills, you can carry everything you need for an unanticipated night out in an outfit that weighs less than two pounds, with the exception of water.

Well said. Although DW and I always carry 27 oz steel water bottles with us on day hikes, we don't consider them essential survival items here. In the winter we have 3+ feet of freeze-dried water in the woods, and in summer we could probably float home on a log from most any point in the state if it weren't for those pesky patches of land in the way.

Yeah, if the skeeters didn't pick your bones clean before you got there!