Originally Posted By: Susan
Sunset that day was 7:35 p.m. He passed good shelter because he couldn't seem to understand that conditions had changed, and didn't stop for the night until 11p.m. Tired. Cold. DUMB.


Before you get into that situation, you really have to have a "turn back" time established. Usually it's associated with folks doing a summit attempt. If they haven't summitted by a certain time, everyone in the party starts heading back down.
That time is usually set to allow a decent, in daylight, to basecamp, with some safety margin.

In addition, a well organized group will have in their mind a "hunker down for the night" time. If you aren't back to camp by some point, you find or make shelter for the night. That isn't 11pm for sure.

It's kinda like a rescue chopper on a SAR mission reaching Bingo fuel over water. If you don't turn back at that point, well, you're inviting another set of issues, like ditching at sea, and creating another set of victims for someone else to search for.
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- Ron