Wow. I guess they didn't seek shelter or build a fire until it was already too late. But building a fire could have been quite tough in the downpour that was described. And if they didn't have anything significant to protect them from the rain and cold...

I try to go prepared, but I could see myself in a similar situation potentially. 60 degrees in the morning - you usually expect it to warm up as the day goes on. I always check the weather forecast. I always carry additional gear for warmth, how much of that I carry depends on the season, the forecast, etc. But going from 60 degrees to 20 (in pouring rain) is quite a change. But I guess it IS winter now, and these types of temperature swings aren't really all that rare.

I will be more vigilent in making sure I am prepared on future hikes. Usually you read stories of tragedy like this and you can point out all the obvious, blatant mistakes that were made. But in this case I can see mistakes were made, but I don't judge them as over-the-top felony-level stupidity. They could happen to many of us here, despite how well prepared we proclaim to be. I guess the biggest mistake was not to check on the weather forecast (but we don't know that he didn't do that - it wasn't mentioned).

I will now make sure to remind my kids (grown up now) they always be carrying at least a HeatSheets for every hike, even if it's a warm sunny day and it's only planned to be a two hour stroll. Getting wet can just kill you.