“...People start up it on a warm day in October with sneakers and maybe a sweater, get lost and freeze to death.”
I’ve seen people start hikes woefully unprepared. I climbed 3,000 ft to the top of Yosemite Falls (on the trail, not rock climbing) in January 1975. It was a freakish warm winter and going up to 70 F that day. I left in the early morning darkness and was fully prepared to survive a couple days if something happened. When I headed down around 11 am, the sky was cloudless, it was warm, and people were coming up in tee-shirts, shorts, sandals, no water. I couldn’t believe it. I was no mountaineer, but knew mountains are unforgiving. I’ve seen the same thing on Mt. Lassen in Northern California.
“I’ve seen people start hikes woefully unprepared.”
Summer in the mountains of Colorado can be very dangerous for hypothermia. Take off on a hike, it’s sunny and warm, then thunderstorm hits and I’ve seen people staggering around like drunk trying to find the trail. Others will grab them and walk them down. But if you are alone...
The two of them had a chance to make it through the night with the dual body heat. No way to know how good the chance was. I’d have drug the person down as far as I could on a sheet or something and stayed with them. She may have needed oxygen as much as warmth.
I see people go hiking in the Utah desert in summer with only a small bottle of water. And often no hat. Really really stupid.