Good Lord, please tell me that this pilot was required to have some kind of basic emergency/survival/FAK on board when taking passengers for hire? I don't know what the requirements are for aircraft, but, I know on a boat you have to have a basic set of gear, and the requirements go up as the size of the vessel and number of folks you're carrying go up. Even if it wasn't "required", wouldn't a responsible person planning on flying unpowered over mountain ranges think that maybe something might one day not go as planned?
I know it's a glider, and weight is an issue, but, a small kit should be possible. It sounds like there wasn't even a flashlight on board.

How does the glider communicate with the tow plane? They must have had an air band radio or handheld or something? She said she knew from the start they were in trouble. How about calling the tow plane and giving them a heads up to stay around until they knew they could get back over the range. At least they'd be able to radio the landing site to the local SAR folks.

This is just pathetic. They didn't have a way to signal or make a fire to stay warm? I guess they at least had a few neurons firing so they climbed back into the craft. I guess this was one of those potential "natural selection" cases that turned out ok because people found them quickly. A little colder night, or an injury on the landing and things could have turned into body recovery rather than rescue.

Next thing you know, one of them will be bringing a lawsuit against the manufacturer of the glider or something, it must be somebody else at fault <img src="/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />