The guy got turned around (it happens), kept himself together and self-rescued. Not much of a story IMO. So yeah, the breathless media chatter about "survival stupidity" is more noise than signal.

I guess they did try contacting via text message too, although spam filters set to maximum might toss those too. Still, I think he could have sent a message out (and maybe he did).

The assumption that we are required to be connected and respond to our phones every second is a pernicious -- a.k.a. facebook disease. Good luck contacting me when I'm hiking. My phone is probably turned off to save the battery for a real emergency.