Oh boy. I'll vote for confusion and that I believe the poor guy didn't stop to think what he was doing.

Instead of adventurers freezing atop Mt. Everest, which you would expect to hear about, I hear far more stories of people who, from ignorance, confusion, or not stopping to think what they're doing, create a survival situation where none should exist in the first place, and then do exactly the wrong thing and wind up dying.