Hey, I agree that the fire starter is a detour from this thread. More importantly, the snowboarder's mind was probably not prepared beforehand for survival.

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Regarding fire starters, I can't let this issue go... I like Bic lighters for everyday use. I have about 15 brand new ones sitting on a shelf. I will throw a small Bic in pocket when I go snowboarding, BUT I will also have a more reliable fire starter in another pocket. I'm not comfortable with being on a survival forum and have people automatically recommend "Bic lighter" for every survival situation.

A Bic lighter is NOT rugged.

I've had Bic lighters malfunction from a number of reasons: just sitting on the shelf too long, leaking because they were in a pocket that got sat on, etc. Perhaps someone is carrying a Bic that will go out, not now, but an hour from now when you're on top of the mountain. Also, a Bic dies when the head unit gets wet. (In fact, I just ran that experiment before this post.) Other lighters also die when wet, but there are other lighters that have mechanisms to protect the head units from moisture.

In the situation at hand, the snowboarder should have been carrying a fire starter device that's over-engineered. A Bic is not over-engineered. There are a few lighters on the market that are over-engineered and way more rugged than a Bic lighter, and they're not that expensive.