equipment/decisions decisions/equipment???
nobody's talking about training and experience. if this kid HAD the equipment necessary to survive and didn't use it, that wasn't a decision. it's training/experience that let's you recognize the dangerous conditions and the onset of hypothermia symptoms to prevent them before they occur.
it's not a decision to stop and strip off your wet clothes and climb into your bag and emergency bivy once your hands are so stiff and you're shaking so bad you can't do that and even sophisticated knowledge fails if you haven't the training or experience to put things into use when the chips are down.
a good emergency drill is called "man in the creek", where you attempt to make a fire with crotch-high flames as quickly as possible --
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEZlRy0lyZU
one of the smallest/lightest emergency tools is the Palmer Furnace, named for the cave explorer Arthur Palmer who used his carbide lamp held under his shirt to warm up. you can easily make a functional one with your poncho, a large trash bag with a hole in it for your head, or a mylar emergency blanket and a candle. a couple of tealight candles will work but not as quick as a larger one.
the idea is to sit on a warm dry spot (your pack), cross your legs and place the candle(s) between them and cover yourself completely with the trash bag or e-blanket. pretty quickly the temp inside will raise 20 or more degrees which should give you enough advantage to prevent or reverse hypothermia symptoms, allowing you to take more substantial measures for survival.
but again, you have to
decide to carry this emergency
equipment but even then, simply having gear won't help you unless you've actually been trained to recognize dangerous circumstances and apply life-saving skills...