Aerial search for missing techie & family

mikea

mikea

Touchdown! Greaser!
Gone West
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iWin
The techie community is on alert because James Kim, his wife and two daughters have been missing in Oregon since last Saturday.

http://news.com.com/Aerial+search+under+way+for+missing+CNET+editor/2100-1028_3-6140118.html

I used to watch James Kim on TechTV. He used his older daughter as a model when he demonstrated new still and video cameras.

It's amazing that in this day and age a car can disappear in America.

This is one reason to carry a 406 MHz PLB at all times when traveling. It too bad they aren't designed to alarm automatticaly like ELTs.
 
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I've been reading about this. I sure hope it turns out for the better, but it's not looking good.
 
Mike...this country is freaking HUGE bro. You can see it from the air, and I see it from the ground a lot as I travel all over for work.

There are places where if you were walking...that you could go a whole day or more without hitting a house or civilization, and that is NOT in the "wilderness".

I am happy to hear they found the wife and kids. My sad opinion is that they will find him dead.

Techies and the outdoors just do not mix. :(
 
I just don't know why they did not do a tracert to find him??

I have read the articles and I just don't quit understand what happened. Did he get lost driving through some mountainous terrain in a snow storm and then decided to hike across country to get help??
 
smigaldi said:
I just don't know why they did not do a tracert to find him??

I have read the articles and I just don't quit understand what happened. Did he get lost driving through some mountainous terrain in a snow storm and then decided to hike across country to get help??
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It says the camp road was a common shortcut on the route. How much you wanna bet that they had a GPS telling them to go that way?
 
mikea said:
This is one reason to carry a 406 MHz PLB at all times when traveling.
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Thanks for reminding me of another gizmo to suck up cash once we take delivery of the airplane. :(
 
smigaldi said:
A moment later CNN started reporting that they found his "dead body"

:(
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Yep. AP confirmed.

Only one miracle allowed.

They were saying that people can feel hot when they go into hypothermia which may explain why his clothes were found along the way.
 
Sad. He never knew that his wife and children were found alive and in pretty good condition. Sad. :(
 
Very sad. Sounded like he tried to stay with them as long and he could and finally concluded he needed to find help in some way. Wonderful that the wife and kids did well and seem O.K.

Anyone know why they took that back road?

Best,

Dave
 
Dave Siciliano said:
Very sad. Sounded like he tried to stay with them as long and he could and finally concluded he needed to find help in some way. Wonderful that the wife and kids did well and seem O.K.

Anyone know why they took that back road?

Best,

Dave
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There may be some confussion as to what map Kim was using to navigate. One the family had from the state of OR showed a notation that the road they were on was closed in winter months, however a Rand-McNally map the family also had does not have this comment on the road.

Sad indeed.
 
Dave Siciliano said:
Very sad. Sounded like he tried to stay with them as long and he could and finally concluded he needed to find help in some way. Wonderful that the wife and kids did well and seem O.K.

Anyone know why they took that back road?

Best,

Dave
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"James' wife, Kati, told authorities she wanted to clarify information in some published reports about how they ended up on the treacherous stretch. The family had intended to head west on Highway 42 but missed the turnoff, Hastings said citing Kati. As they approached Grants Pass, they consulted an Oregon state map and decided to take a direct route to their destination of Gold Beach.

That road turned out to be Bear Camp Road, a remote logging road that is often impassable during winter. When they had trouble with the road, they intentionally stopped in what they thought was a visible area."

And I'd like to echo the suggestion for a PLB. 600$, 5 year battery life, that's a 120$/yr insurance policy. Worth it I'd say.
 
mikea said:
They were saying that people can feel hot when they go into hypothermia which may explain why his clothes were found along the way.
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This is actually quite common. I have found several hypothermia victims disrobed like this :(

This happens around the country every so often even in this day and age. A case in Utah a couple of years ago ended similarly with the persons in the car surviving and the one who went for help expiring :dunno:
 
alaskaflyer said:
This happens around the country every so often even in this day and age. A case in Utah a couple of years ago ended similarly with the persons in the car surviving and the one who went for help expiring :dunno:
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First things first - James, RIP. This is a tragedy on so many levels, and he made a difficult decision to leave his family and attempt to find help.

Next, as someone who has spent a lot of time freezing his arse off, and has recieved more than a modicum of winter survival training, I will state this: if you don't have the skills and the tools, DON'T GO. Going alone is intrinsically more dangerous than with if you go with another person; this danger is multiplied if you lack some essential gear OR some essential winter survival know-how.

It sounds like they had some items in the car to help facilitate survival, and I imagine things seemed like they were getting desperate, but you can't venture off on your own unless you have the skills, tools, and cajones to do so. Usually, people only have one of the three and pay the ultimate price :(

As an aside, I will also vent that the techie culture that James was a part of advocates devices that I think cause more problems in the backcountry than they solve - according to my SAR friends, GPS' cause more problems then they fix with green backcountry explorers.

Cheers,

-Andrew
 
AdamZ said:
Both sad and heroic!:(
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It is very heroic of James to try and go find help for his family. Articles I've read state he covered an amazing amount of ground considering the conditions. It as very sad that a family now has no father and husband.

But, I'm going to be harsh. It's idiotic to be driving unfamiliar back roads in the mountains during wintertime. Just for a shortcut? High price to pay for a shortcut.
 
Bill Jennings said:
It is very heroic of James to try and go find help for his family. Articles I've read state he covered an amazing amount of ground considering the conditions. It as very sad that a family now has no father and husband.

But, I'm going to be harsh. It's idiotic to be driving unfamiliar back roads in the mountains during wintertime. Just for a shortcut? High price to pay for a shortcut.
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yep, it is.
 
Bill Jennings said:
It is very heroic of James to try and go find help for his family. Articles I've read state he covered an amazing amount of ground considering the conditions. It as very sad that a family now has no father and husband.

But, I'm going to be harsh. It's idiotic to be driving unfamiliar back roads in the mountains during wintertime. Just for a shortcut? High price to pay for a shortcut.
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Kati has already said how they got there. It wasn't a shortcut as such. They realized that they had missed a turn and pulled out the map. The map showed that this road went directly where they wanted to go. There is word that the Rand McNally map did not note that the road is closed in the winter although another one did (PI lawyers take note). When the going got bad they stopped at a place they thought would make them easy to spot.

Thee rescurers think James was alive when they picked up his trail but tehy couldn't get to him in time. I saw the news conferenece where undersheriff Bill Anderson was too broken up to deliver the news.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16079394/

I can tell you from the one time I got locked out of my car after landing on a 20 degree night with howling winds that it doesn't take long for you wonder how bad of shape you're in. In my case I was outside for little more than an hour and it took me another hour to stop shivering.
 
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mikea said:
Kati has already said how they got there. It wasn't a shortcut as such. They realized that they had missed a turn and pulled out the map. The map showed that this road went directly where they wanted to go. There is word that the Rand McNally map did not note that the road is closed in the winter although another one did (PI lawyers take note). When the going got bad they stopped at a place they thought would make them easy to spot.
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Part of me feels very guilty saying this, but I don't trust my derrier (sp?) to a gas station map. That said, I also think that while the map may have misleading information, they still were driving around in the backcountry unprepared IMO. It may sound nuts, but in the back of our Subaru, which rarely sees >1+hr from nearest small town in northern ME, I've got a wilderness survival kit plus two bivys and some space blankets, some dried food, and a few MRE heater tabs. Takes up no more than about 1cuft, spread in the trays and bins in the back.

I can tell you from the one time I got locked out of my car after landing on a 20 degree night with howling winds that it doesn't take long for you wonder how bad of shape you're in. In my case I was outside for little more than an hour and it took me another hour to stop shivering.
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I remember during a particularly nasty campout 6 or so years ago, it got down to -15 without the breeze, which was blowing a solid 10-20mph, and as I lay in my bag, still in my gear from the hike that day, wondering if my eyes would freeze overnight. Thankfully, they didn't!

Cheers,

-Andrew
 
astanley said:
Part of me feels very guilty saying this, but I don't trust my derrier (sp?) to a gas station map. That said, I also think that while the map may have misleading information, they still were driving around in the backcountry unprepared IMO.
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I have to concur. When I lived in upstate NY I took the I-road plenty of times in winter conditions even when I knew the more direct 2 laners were PROBABLY ok. My concern: in the event of accident, etc., how well travelled was the road?

We'll be going on a trip for the holidays, 90% of the travel will be on well travelled interstates, yet in the passenger compartment with us will be: ski jackets and bibs for all three, hiking boots, hats, gloves, and three sleeping bags. A gallon or two of water, and a handful of powerbars.

Paranoid? Maybe, but my 4 year old deserves at least that much planning.
 
mikea said:
Kati has already said how they got there. It wasn't a shortcut as such. They realized that they had missed a turn and pulled out the map. The map showed that this road went directly where they wanted to go. There is word that the Rand McNally map did not note that the road is closed in the winter although another one did (PI lawyers take note). When the going got bad they stopped at a place they thought would make them easy to spot.
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So, for me anyway, I'd like to know how the vehicle was incapacitated. Did they knowingly drive into deep snow? Maybe were going downhill when the snow got deep, then got trapped in the bottom of a valley?

When I lived up in update NY, a buddy and I did plenty of winter backroad exploring in the Catskills and Aderondacs, but a never violated rule was to never get onto snow covered roads, always turn around.
 
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Bill Jennings said:
So, for me anyway, I'd like to know how the vehicle was incapacitated. Did they knowingly drive into deep snow? Maybe were going downhill when the snow got deep, then got trapped in the bottom of a valley?

When I lived up in update NY, a buddy and I did plenty of winter backroad exploring in the Catskills and Aderondacs, but a never violated rule was to never get onto snow covered roads, always turn around.
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C'mon. They were driving a Saab. Haven't you seen those commercials? Saabs and Volvos were made to scale the snow in the Alps.
 
mikea said:
C'mon. They were driving a Saab. Haven't you seen those commercials? Saabs and Volvos were made to scale the snow in the Alps.
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With proper snows, like studded Nokian Hakkapeliittas on all four wheels, then yes, you can go into some pretty nasty stuff. On all(no)seasons, you're SOL.
 
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