Roamer, are you still guessing that maybe the terrible accident happened BEFORE the storm hit? Maybe close to the time it hit but still before? BTW, my last post does not mean I've concluded there was no accident. I was responding to the ideas of bonneblue as to what she guessed might have happened. And her scenario was guessing no accident but possibly the deadly weather was a sole catalyst for the split up.
are you still guessing that maybe the terrible accident happened BEFORE the storm hit?
Yes. In response to the now established fact that he was uninjured, and in light of AA's (?) observation that he would be unable to stand in 100 mph winds.
It makes no sense that he would leave his ground pad and axes, arguably the most important things he'd need, so it would seem to me he was delirious before he left the belay station to move to the snow-cave.
It seems likely he dug the small cave at the belay station himself, and some time later, after being severely compromised by hypothermia, left his gear to wander over to the big snow-cave.
I had wondered if that all could have happened before the storm truly set in, which would seem to be necessary in order for him to move at all.
I don't know when the storm truly hit, so I can't say, but I do know that if he were only in a jacket, it would not take long for hypothermia to set in, even if in a snow-cave.
-Bruce