It seems to me that there is a bit of confusion in the survival literature about leaving the vehicle VS staying with the vehicle. Here is a case where leaving the vehicle would have best the best option (if McDonald knew where to go), whereas Chretien (Stranded for 49 days), it seems that staying with the vehicle was the right thing to do.
Another “rule” from the survival literature is to make a plan and stick to it – perhaps a plan like “I’ll stay with my vehicle”, or “I’ll stick to my intended shortcut” ?
I don’t have any real insights here, just wanting to make the point that “the literature” is only a guideline and ultimately you need to make your own decision. It seems that case by case in these newspaper-worthy articles we can see the wisdom of what was right or wrong. I suspect that these rules are good guidelines for a general breakdown, but can’t be blindly applied in a “real” survival situation ?
Let me pose the question: How do you know when you go from a simple “difficult situation” to a survival situation ?
I think that this is a question which can only be answered with hindsight and probably can’t be answered at the time you are actually stuck, because at that time you will only have imperfect information, you don’t know if the snow will melt tomorrow (and you can drive out), or a bunch of hunters will come down the track, or no one will come for another 2 months.
PS – little survival tip, or even just for fun: When you are out in the bush, especially in hills or mountains, it always pays to survey your surroundings in the dark as well as during the day. It amazes me that at night you can see the sky glow from distant towns and even direct lights from a cabin or farm, or the light from a distant camp fire. Perhaps if McDonald had done this he may have seen the lights of the restaurant, just 4miles away ?
A couple of times I’ve taken out my compass (at night) and taken a bearing on the lights, during the day, there is no indication of a settlement, but with a compass bearing, you can see over hills to where it is.