Julia, this incident actually happened in April 2003, so you must have read it sometime in the past 5 years. And yes, he did break just about every rule of back country recreation. When I heard him talk, he described what lengths his mother went through to find him. I said to him after his talk that, as a mother, I could almost feel the anguish this must have caused his mother. I remember he commented "Yes, you mothers are the rock stars". I guess I would attribute some of his pre-event behavior to youthful bravado and stupidity, but I didn't get the impression he still felt that way.
I found this excerpt from the book, as he realized the consequences of his actions:
I know with a sense of finality that I'm saying goodbye to my family—my parents and my 22-year-old sister, Sonja—and that regardless of how much I suffer in this spot, they will feel more agony than me.
"I'm sorry."
With tears brimming, I stop filming and rub the backs of my knuckles across my eyes. I start up once more.
"You guys make me proud. I go out looking for adventure and risk, so I can feel alive. But I go out by myself, and I don't tell someone where I'm going—that's just dumb. If someone knew, if I'd been with someone else, there would probably already be help on the way. Dumb, dumb, dumb."
