Hm. Lucky. My river survival trip was just that: I slipped on some freakin granite, and in I went. King's River, up in the Sierra Nevada's. In July, so the melt off was wicked quick. After going over 3 or 4 waterfalls (it was hard to keep count while bouncing off boulders), I made it out.

Anyway, my point is, I had no lesson to learn besides: Stay off wet granite!

Even 15 years later, there isn't one piece of equipment that would have helped, besides maybe tying myself to a tree while on that lunch break. Sometimes survival is just dumb luck.