[The Monkey]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JahJahBinks /img/forum/go_quote.gif I wonder the car they drove is AWD or not. But I think so. The reason I asked about burning tree is that I want you guys to check my reasoning, and if you ever get stranded in the same situation, you probably will remember this thread and hopefully that will give you one extra option to survive.

One of the reports I read indicated that the weather was very, very wet for several days while they were stranded. So it may have been difficult to start a wood fire.

 

[granodemostasa]

interesting read: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfga...entry_id=11629

apparently some years ago a person did the "right" thing on that same road under similar circumstances and died waiting.

 

[YamiTenshi]

Apparently people who survive did the "right" thing, whereas people who don't survive did the "wrong" thing. As I've said before it's easy to see what they did wrong in hindsight. If James didn't leave his family they would all be safe. Or maybe if he brought one more jacket with him. Or if.... blah, blah, blah. But if they had never had a wrong turn to begin with then none of this crap would have happened. That's life (and death) for you...

It breaks my heart to think that when James died he had no idea that his family had already been saved. What could have been going through his mind...... damn.

 

[soundboy]

I think we can speculate why this happened and how that happened about James' decision-making process. To me, he made the "right" decisions. Obviously, in hindsight, a lot of things could've been done differently. But then, that can be said for some of our actions as well. Before this tragic saga, I don't think most people know who he was. I don't like the outcome at all and James' story touched a lot of people around the world, which can be seen in the memorial people have build in front of one of his stores.

RIP James....you were a true hero.

 

[OGTL]

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Monkey /img/forum/go_quote.gif One of the reports I read indicated that the weather was very, very wet for several days while they were stranded. So it may have been difficult to start a wood fire.

with a lighter, out in the woods, you can start a fire. No matter how wet, there is always dry wood behind the curtains of the forest. whether under pine trees, on the downside of felled trees, or under natural shelters.

 

[digitalcat]

And it was even heartbreaking to know that 1 mile away there's a lodge filled with supplies and months of food.
Quote:

Originally Posted by will75 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Looking at that reconstructed map is heartbreaking and haunting when you think about the conditions.

 

[Oistrakh]

well, at least Kim's wife and children were rescued.

 

[3x331m]

If anyone has been lost in a snowy mountain, then that person might understand what James K. has been through and his situation. I would give a lot of credit and respect for what James had done, regardless of the final outcome.

Peace to James, and the best wishes to his family.

I hope that my ski pals would stop laughing at me when they see my winter survival gears and the amount of reserve supplies in the trunk of my SUV.

 

[archosman]

Online map linked to fatal turn


Questionable directions given by online mapping services could have contributed to the death of James Kim, who perished while trying to save his stranded family.

Kim, 35, was driving home from a vacation with his wife, Kati, and daughters, four-year-old Penelope and seven-month-old Sabine, on November 25 when he took a wrong turn and they became lost in the wilderness in Oregon, in north-west US.

Kim left his family on Saturday to find help, but never returned. When searchers found his lifeless body yesterday, he had already walked 13 kilometres through rugged terrain, wearing only light clothing.

But Kim - undoubtedly tech-savvy given that he worked as a technology reporter for the online publisher CNET - may never have made that fateful wrong turn if he hadn't used the internet to look up directions for his journey, US media reports suggest.

According to Associated Press, drivers are advised not to take Bear Camp Road to Gold Beach in winter, the route taken by the Kims.

"Authorities say the cyber-savvy family may have plucked the route from Grants Pass to Gold Beach from an online mapping service, unaware of the elements," AP reported.

"Despite its impassable snowdrifts and single lane, Bear Camp Road is offered as the preferred route on some websites and on-board-directions software available on some new cars. And most of those have no business in those mountains in the winter."

When using the Yahoo Maps, MapQuest and Google Maps online services to plot directions from Grants Pass to Gold Beach, Yahoo and MapQuest both recommend taking the same, safer highway route, while Google suggests a shortcut through roads that become dangerous in winter.

"It's [the route used by the Kim family] not a good way to go in winter conditions," Josephine County Undersheriff Brian Anderson told journalists. "You're not going to make it."

It hasn't been definitively confirmed which online mapping service, if any, the Kim family used for directions.

Autopsy results are due today, and it is expected that they will show that Kim, weakened by a lack of food, eventually succumbed to hypothermia.

Kim's wife and daughters were rescued earlier this week, sustaining only minor injuries.

Since his body was recovered yesterday, video, audio and text tributes to Kim have flooded the web.

Yesterday, smh.com.au's story that reported on the finding of Kim's body was the website's most-read article, attracting over 100,000 page views.

Similarly, on MSNBC.com, the story received over 1 million page views by lunch time, and was also its top-rated story. On CNN.com, the story had received 755,000 page views by mid-afternoon, SFGate.com reports.

The website created to track the search effort, www.jamesandkati.com, is currently collecting donations for the Kim family.

 

[Oistrakh]

Quote:

Originally Posted by digitalcat /img/forum/go_quote.gif And it was even heartbreaking to know that 1 mile away there's a lodge filled with supplies and months of food.

and also the fact that he made a giant "U turn" and was only like a mile from his car...

 

[YamiTenshi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by archosman /img/forum/go_quote.gif The website created to track the search effort, www.jamesandkati.com, is currently collecting donations for the Kim family.[/i]

Will Head-Fi be setting anything up to donate as a group? I was planning to donate some money privately but if Head-Fi is doing it than I'll donate with the group.

 

[3x331m]

Quote:

Originally Posted by YamiTenshi /img/forum/go_quote.gif Will Head-Fi be setting anything up to donate as a group? I was planning to donate some money privately but if Head-Fi is doing it than I'll donate with the group.

My "boss" at home has decided that we'd do it privately when I told her about this news.

 

[Oistrakh]

Apparently, the bear camp road gate was unlocked by a vandal... It is usually locked. More here

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/12/08/mis...rss_topstories

 

[puiah11]

That would suck to die from Hypothermia. But seriously, they got 'lost in the wilderness' and he died from 'walking in the forest.' Probably some covert military hit or he stumbled onto a secret base or something.

Anybody smell darwin?

 

[Konig]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oistrakh /img/forum/go_quote.gif humans can survive around two or three weeks without food... UPDATE: They just found James' jeans... Lets hope they find him!

I believe reading an article somewhere (2 years ago)during my history WW2 research (reading a translated scientific article written by japanese unit 731 that their specimens could last on average 3.5 weeks, and they had an anomaly case that lasted 5 weeks) The russians tends last on average longer.