EISPIRATEN

This article is worth a read for anyone who travels in the back country.
Six Day Ordeal in the Sierra

It looks like he:
a) did not leave a detailed itinerary with anyone and
b) did not have any signalling devices with him

That's not to try to rip him to shreds (he did a danged good job with what he had; I'd probably be dead right now), but rather to encourage people to think about safety.

Waiting THREE DAYS for someone to even notice you're not back yet is no fun. A PLB (Personal Locator Beacon) works anywhere in the world and notifies Search and Rescue that you're in distress immediately. It also takes the "Search" out of "Search and Rescue". A tremendous amount of resources are expended just looking for someone. The article states that 80 people were out looking for him. A PLB sends out both your GPS coordinates *and* sends out a homing beacon. Search and Rescue can proceed to your location directly and little time is spent looking for the victim.

HJ

Thanks Hiking Jim for the article post and the info about a Personal Locator beacon. I googled out of curiosity to see what they cost and what they look like. It seems you can get them at REI or other online stores and the prices vary depending on what you are looking for in type/style but not too high a price to put on your safety and small enough that they won't add weight to your pack. If I were going alone in backcountry I would buy one for sure.

I'm glad this guy kept his head in this situation and was able to be found by caring folks willing to search for him.