See my post #1359 proving conclusively that if he had used the higher ground next to the car, the added 1270 feet (over about a mile or so) would have put him within 10 feet (maybe better) of being in line-of-sight of the Wolf Peak cell tower 20 miles away near Glendale and the call would have clearly gone through. Mr. Kim did not do that.
In 1995, I climbed just a couple hundred feet from a river valley to increase a cell signal from barely detectable to useable and call for help. If you have a cellphone, use the highest available ground to try it. A tech guy should have thought of that. (I'm a tech guy too.)
That is probably very true...it would have been even easier to walk down the other road less than a mile and found Bear Lake Lodge with everything he needed. He wouldn't be able to call from there but at least he would have secure facility to operate from.
I also think this time of year it must be pretty competitive with the bears and treking any more than you need to I would think to be not a good thing.