This newspaper account lacks information important to understanding the incident, such as the temperature and forecast. Additionally, snow conditions could have been reported by checking with the Forest Service, the Appalachian Mountain Club, and the Mount Washington Observatory. Analysis of this incident in Appalachia Journal will likely include such details. Winter conditions in the White Mountains are highly variable from year to year and have a tremendous impact on the outcome of backcountry trips.
One thing that hasn't been touched on either by the article or by the commenters—they were doing this as a ski trip. It doesn't say what kind of boots they had, but cross country ski boots tend to have less insulation than winter mountaineering boots (often much less). While temperatures at nearby Whitefield airport weren't bad during the daylight hours of the 16th, they went below zero (F) in the early hours of the 17th. [2] There's no way I'd want anyone in my group wearing lightly insulated cross country boots in below zero temperatures.
It is significant that the trail wasn't broken out. That it took them nine hours to go from Stillwater Junction to the closed Franconia Brook campsite indicates that snow and trail conditions were terrible.
I think that both the article and commenters here overemphasize the value of GPS. The route is not difficult to follow. Most of their second day was spent following a watershed downstream. For this you need a GPS? Warm boots are far more useful (note that the article says that a GPS failed). There is no cell reception where they were, either. When (not 'if') the electronics fail will you be able to cope?
The most important thing that this group did right was to get themselves out under their own power. People who come from urban areas have an incredible temptation to dial 9-1-1 or push a magic "rescue me" button on a PLB device. There is no fleet of helicopters standing by to come get you.
So many people come to New Hampshire to hike or enjoy the outdoors that there are numerous incidents requiring rescue. This has stressed the budgets of the state and federal agencies involved and taxed the energy of the volunteer organizations. Some of the incidents are due to ignorance, negligence, or irresponsibility. People discount the danger to which they expose their rescuers, but meanwhile most of the NH SAR community is aware that volunteer Albert Dow was killed taking part in a search. [3]
New Hampshire started the hikeSafe program [4] due to the increase in the number of search and rescue incidents. It's disappointing that this article didn't interview any SAR personnel or people with winter hiking experience to highlight this group's mistakes. Nor does it list any sources of backcounty education, such as the AMC New Hampshire Chapter's Winter Workshops. [5] It's typical for downcountry media to make heroes of participants and treat such incidents as adventures rather than discuss errors, and this article somewhat follows that pattern.
[1] http://www.outdoors.org/publications/appalachia/
[2] http://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/KHIE/2014/2/17/D...
[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Herr#Early_life
[5] http://amc-nh.org/committee/excursions/index-winterworkshop....