Originally posted on 04/17/2018:

Somebody like Dave who wanted "time away" wouldn't do it by leaving his family and friends in the dark, left only to search some remote mountainside. Dave is a well traveled man who enjoys the fine things in life, and has the resources for any kind of getaway he'd want, but he wouldn't do it in a way that would cause this kind of worry for the people he cares about.
Dave is a keen observer of the human condition, and whether his time in this world ends this way, or many years down the road, his ultimate legacy will not be handicapping methods, or wins and losses, but the lessons he has passed on in how to learn about people through observation. It's highly ironic that his disappearance has been so illuminating in that regard in this thread.