There's an Epic Scale that goes from 1 to 5, just like Aid ratings.
E1 is like you got benighted on the route and when you got back to the truck, you'd lost your keys, and then when you hitched home, you were out of beer.
E2 is about the same but your garbled text message from the summit was misinterpreted by your mom, and SAR got called out to look for you.
E3 has blood loss and first aid kits involved, maybe a broken leg you hobble out on, or a ruptured appendix 3 days into a week long ski tour on a remote icefield.
E4 is up in the realm where you are about to bite it on an 8000m'er but miraculously find the abandoned pack of Japanese gear that has enough spare rope and pins o get you off the face (ref. Suffer Machine, Twight/Blench/Blanchard etc.)
E5? You're not just touching the void, you're fisting it.
If you or other people in your party die, it's no longer an epic. It's a fuck up. Come back alive.