Bit late to the party but enjoyed the read (and pics), will have a good look through your other blog content when I get a few moments and a coffee. Hopefully you're managing to get a little less jip from the ankle by now!
Interesting comment about the hypothermic medical students, you'd have expected them to be quite assertive in spotting the slow degradation - but as someone who has both had hypothermia and seen others with it, I know full well it can be hard to tell between someone who is just struggling and out of energy with someone who has become hypothermic. In my case I felt largely 'fine', but knew I was becoming a little chilly - yet I was in a -10C/40mph blizzard so expected as much. Then when I picked up a map I was heading 180 degrees from the correct direction - this degraded to the point where my hands became painful and wasn't able to stretch my fingers in my gloves. Overall though the worst thing was knowing I needed to change the situation but wasn't able to focus enough to 'think through' the problem and navigate myself out - all I could think of was I needed to keep moving in whatever direction to produce more heat.
This was many years ago now, but it taught no matter how it is less about fitness and 'drive' to bomb up hills and more about having the mentality to beat a problem. You still need the correct gear, spares, warm drink and regular food (and to constantly be fueling yourself), but the 'self management' aspect of winter mountaineering in particular is the difference between the experienced and those who rely on fitness and speed to get them out of trouble.
