Some interesting analysis going on here. I can speak from some personal experiences (embarrassingly), and the thing about this story (as with many other tragedies) is that from our arm chairs it is easy to spot where things have gone wrong, and easy to see what “should have” been done. I’m not criticising anyone, I think this is a very useful exercise

…. Just hang on a moment while I adjust my cushion …. now that’s better …

When you are actually in the situation, you often may not realize the first few mistake (eg inappropriate track, lack of food etc), and by the time the alarm bells start to ring you are already in a “situation”. At that point you need to be calm enough to make a decision about what to do, and depending on the information available, and your own experiences and personality you will either make, what turns out to be, a good or bad decision.

At the time (in this case probably cold and wet, tired and hungry, angry for getting to this point) you make the best decision available, and it will not be until later that you either laugh it off over dinner with friends, or make the headlines of the newspapers !