To be fair, I had informally studied alpine survival skills and techniques before I was ever in need of them. If you know you are going to be travelling in or through a certain type terrain it would really be prudent to make a study of what you might need to know to CYA. I also had tools which were in effect the perfect survival tools for the environment (ice axe and crampons; BD Raven axe and grivel g12 newmatic crampons for you gear geeks) but nothing else in the way of fire start / blanket / etc. I did have mass quantities of goo in choclate flavor. I also had an additional nalgene 1 L wide mouth filled with hi test cytomax (apple ice tea). The nalgene came in handy to melt snow in and dilute the cytomax.. I planned that though... It's not like I was out for a stroll and got lost, I knew where I was but night with a weak headlamp, high wind, avalanche conditions, etc was enough to make me burrow in like a scarred rodent. Ice axes make poor shovels, they break up the snow well but don't move much. They do work good for shaping the inside so its smooth and curved and doesn't drip off a peak on the roof straight onto your head...
For what it's worth...