Quote:
Now the situation has changed. You don't simply have nothing to go on. Even though you might not know everything about this person calling himself a reliable guide, you can consider your options, read his mountain-climbing book (a translation of which you have in your backpack), and decide if it it is more reasonable to
(a) trust him, or
(b) stay on the mountain, or
(c) venture away from the ledge on your own.

Of course you might freeze to death while you read that book.

(d) Confirm with the other climbers that this nutter calling out in the same one that wrote the book
(e) Wonder why to trust someone whose mountain climbing book has descriptions of how to cross a desert plain while crawling backwards, a FAQ on milking elephants and how best to use a granny knot on the rope.
(f) Listen to the voice and plunge to your death when it turns out to be a hypothermic induced halluciation.
(h) Have faith in your friend climbers who you know to be real, that they will realise you re not with them & rescue you.
(i) Call out for Superman or The Flash to get of their butts.
(j) Remember the practical mountain climbing course you did in preparation of your climb, follow the survival techniques shown to you by an experienced, real, physically present instructor and get down by yourself.
(k) Use your mobile phone and GPS to arrange help.
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It was, of course, a lie what you read about my religious convictions, a lie which is being systematically repeated. I do not believe in a personal God and I have never denied this but have expressed it clearly. If something is in me which can be called religious then it is the unbounded admiration for the structure of the world so far as our science can reveal it. - Albert Einstein