We had a severe cold wave here the last days, forecasts were at -20C in the vally, and as low as -30C (-22F) up on the mountains. Very much snow up there, and high winds, but basically bright weather (which is the coldes possible).
My wife happened to pick up a hitchhiker and brought him to our house for lunch, where he turned out to be a hiker and mountaineer from our eastern neighbouring country, and at 20yrs quite a young one.
We had some very nice talks and he stated that he was aiming for the summit of the local highest mountain at 3000m (9850ft), a goal most of the alpinists from his country are aiming for.
We talked through his equipment, he had normal clothes (most of it cotton) but multiple layers of it, double synthetic sleeping bag, a single but thick CCF, and an ice axe. No crampons, no tent, no down (not jacket nor sleeping bag). Now snow shovel, no snowshoes. Canister stove and some food to cook. Hardly any money.
He intended to hike up the mountain by foot, following the downhill tracks of the BC-skiers, sleeping in the open, crossing the glacier, hopefully reaching the summit (which is a beast of via ferrate), later hike over to a famous skiing area on the other side to get this one spectacular view, and come down after another night up on the mountain.
We talked over the specific dangers of freezing to death, getting wet after miles of postholing, that all Alpine huts might be out of service. All the time I was weighing the pro and con, finally his chances to survive, to stop him or wish him good luck and go.
Finally we gave him our phone number as well as the number of the Alpine SAR, brought him to the exit road and wished him all the best.
What would you have done?