Tragic.

The thing that struck me in the version I saw (of all the things that went wrong that led to the fatal result) was the fact that although their plans seemed to call for a return by Monday, nobody called authorities until late Wednesday. Those two days were critical.

Drives home the point that when you go off into the boonies, you need to make sure someone knows where you're going, when you're due back, and when to alert authorities. It may be just a log at a trail-head, or a buddy back home; but if you're going someplace you may get stuck, it's cheap insurance to make sure someone knows your plans.

I've violated it too often myself, and I'm sure the poor friends and family who finally DID call it in are suffering a lot of "what if's" right now.