In reply to Rob Exile Ward:
> That didn't seem very difficult, so why hadn't they done it earlier?
If the film didn't make it look very difficult, then it must have undersold it. From the Guardian article above, it sounds like it was fairly intense mountaineering in serious terrain and weather with no appropriate kit, without any of them having any background in the skills needed and with them all ill or injured to varying degrees. I can easily see how staying put and hoping for rescue might have seemed like the most sensible plan, even without the unimaginable additional stress of actually being there enduring the ordeal while trying to make the right decision.