Things that went wrong and right

On the Positive Side:

Seatbelts - Fortunately, we were wearing them. Our injuries would have been far more serious had we been ejected from the pickup truck.
Clothing - We were dressed in one-piece snow suits appropriate for the cold weather outside. Almost everything in the vehicle was ejected and lost during the accident, so the clothes we were wearing were our main assets.
Equipment in pockets - We has some useful equipment in our pockets, such as compass, pocket knife, lighter, and flashlight. Other equipment in the cab of the pickup was mostly lost.
Knowledge of terraine - We had studied maps of the region and knew where we were and the direction from which rescue was likely to come.
Accident witnessed by second vehicle - Had we been in a single vehicle, we would have had little hope of rescue.
Cargo isolated from Passengers - The cargo didn't crush us because it was in on the flatbed of the pickup truck. Our fate might have been quite different in a single-compartment style vehicle.
Survival equipment in vehicle - I managed to find the emegency tent that had been ejected from the vehicle. It kept us sheltered for 8 hours.
Method of contacting rescue - The witnesses had the training and means (radio telephone) to call for help.

On the Negative Side:

Tight Scheduling of Experiments: A modern seismological experiment is conducted under very tight schedule (in terms of equipment and personel availability) and minimal budget. While we won't work in what we feel are dangerous weather conditions, we can't wait around for perfect weather, either. Thus there is the possibility that mariginally acceptable weather may suddenly take a turn for the worst.
Last Minute Changes in Personel. A person who was originally scheduled to drive was reassigned to a different project at the last minute, because of another, high priority situation that arose. This put an extra burden on the field manager, who then doubled as a driver.
Insufficient consideration of how to abort an outing that was underway. The accident occured as we decided to turn around and return to base camp, with the process of turning causing confusion.
Reliance on GPS for bearing. GPS provides bearing only on a moving vehicle, and thus can cause confusion when one is stopped. A magnetic compass would not have had this problem (although it may have to some degree suffered from deviations due to the magnetic signature of the rocks).
Food - We had no food with us, because the outing was planned as short. Emergency rations in the pockets would have been helpful.