You're talking around the basic fact that people who do the best they can to mitigate risks are going to stand a better chance if something does happen. What you are calling "survival skills" is what I think of as plain ol' common sense - why the F would you leave home, drive 100 miles up a country road, park, hike another 10 - 100 miles, and do all of it without even thinking about the fact that you can't run to the pharmacy, the hospital or call for help?

Planning is ALWAYS the first step. You have to plan... to learn survival skills! You have to think about things to buy into the notion that you need survival skills. You have to WORK TOO HARD to maintain compass and map skills, knot tying, fire building skills - it takes TOO MUCH PLANNING and too much work to maintain those skills, if you only go backpacking once a year. You have to do more than walk up to Half Dome with half a liter of water, wearing flip flops, all 16 miles on granite steps and steep hills - you have to understand what you're up against and get ready for it. People don't understand why that kind of effort is needed - it's just walking, isn't it?

"Survival Skills" in the sense of fire building, etc. are useful, but as I have said repeatedly - people don't understand what that means either. And you won't get them to understand if they think they have what it takes. You are saying survival skills are necessary but not planning - interesting that your way takes much, much more forethought and work than simply leaving an itinerary, huh?

Please answer the original question of what survival skills I would use surrounded by granite for miles. It would probably illustrate the point for you that different skills belong in different environments. I doubt you could last long without some preparation for the task. Not really any way to build a fire with just rocks.

I have been and continue to be a SAR volunteer in Fresno County. Am sadly missing a call out tonight - not for a hiker, but for a Yosemite employee. The information is posted on the Conservancy blog. She was NOT backpacking, day hiking, or anything. And yet she is missing. Sometimes there is no way to prepare at all. Signing on to work at a luxury hotel doesn't require navigation skills.