...recognising early that you will not be back with your buddies for the night is real important, then you have time to seek shelter etc (getting out of the wind, and getting a fire going are 10 times more difficult after darkness falls), and you are much less likely to make further mistakes. Most people who die in our mountains don't just make one mistake, they usually start with a small one then compound it - mostly by getting hypothermia, which generally stuffs your decisionmaking capabilities anyway.
Cheers - Foster
Wise words, for all of the reasons you list. They are hard words to heed for ourselves, when we are the one starting to get in trouble and want to keep trying to find our way out rather than take the safe, embarrassing route and use the last hour before dark to prepare for a long wet night. An old timer I used to hang out with in B.C. once told me abruptly one day,"The time to decide to spend an emergency night in the bush is an hour and a half before dark, not five minutes after."
