The article specifically states that fire making kit - type not specified - was usually part of their kit, but forgotten.



Many, many times... I think "short day hikes" into wilderness is a high risk category because that's when you leave most of the gear behind. It takes dedication to put together a "day hike emergency kit" which is small enough to fit into your favorite daypack and still functional enough when you need it for a night or two. I think too many people wear PSK's and space blankets like they are magical talismans. Better than nothing, but only slightly.


I wanted to let a a list of comments and questions simmer a bit in my mind before posting. There are lessons to be learned here - and those lessons DO NOT in any way lessen their splendid performance when stuck soaking wet in that blizzard of theirs:

• Failure to leave a game plan. Big no-no.
• PLB. I don't carry one, but this predicament is exactly the reason why they are recommended.
• A minor failure in preparation (lack of fire starting kit) can have fatal consequences. Kudos for improvising.
• Clothing. They were soaking wet after 4 hours of walking and sliding down the snow covered mountain in a blizzard. What kind of clothing did they wear? I won't label their clothing as "inappropriate" because I am in no position to say that they should have prepared for 4 hours of snow bashing.
• More clothing - or as Susan says: Dry socks. Having extra (wool) socks and possibly (wool) undergarments can be a life saver. Keep the extra's nice and dry until you stop moving.
• I know for a fact that the bivy bag I carry would have made their shelter building A LOT easier, both as a bivy bag and used as a lean-too windbreak / fire reflector. That being said, it seems they put their meager little space blanket to the very best use, making optimal use of every skill they've learned on that survival course and otherwise. Me, I hate space blankets and prefer quick and easy - but that comes with a weight and volume penalty.
• In their situation, they were right about getting off the naked mountain and into the forest (which is more sheltered, gives you firewood and materials for construction). But what if you can't find your way down? It is a scenario you should consider in your "what-if" thinking.
• (EDIT) A GPS. May or may not been helpful. Switching on your GPS in near total whiteout conditions (such as your average snow storm) may not be that productive. If you have logged the trip up you may or may not be able to retrace your steps - depending on exactly how much visibility you've got and how much margin for error you've got. My guess is that if they had a GPS switched on all the time they would have been able to backtrack their steps during periods of "not total whiteout" conditions (they were, after all, able to spot the patch of trees). Knowing you can do that gives you an incentive to stay put until you have just the bare minimum visibility to crawl back the way you came. But if the GPS is OFF until you need it you don't have the option of backtracking. Then it is all in the hands of how accurately you can use whatever map that's in the GPS or in your map case together with the GPS accuracy. In the mountains, there are lots of places where the margin for error is less than 5 feet. Forget about negotiating that based on recreational GPS systems alone.

EDIT: Added my small rant about GPS...