what could james kim have done?

[her34]

timeline

now that some time has passed i think it's a better point to address this question. it's not meant to belittle what james kim did, but for educational purposes.

for this discussion let's ignore the preparation measures he could have taken (gps, satellite phone, personal locator beacon, better clothing, more food).

given his situation, your car is stuck and you're james or kati kim, what's the best thing to do?

what's the best way of doing either choice of leaving or staying? if staying, could the car have been better used for parts? given all the snow and lack of cutting tool, could the surrounding trees have been used for fire instead of tires?

if leaving, was there a better way of marking your path when it's snowing than dropping clothes? should he have only set to travel for 1 day and return if nothing was found? was there a better way of choosing a path to travel?

here's interesting similar story:
link

Jane, 37, rationed his small supply of water, rice cakes and banana chips and ran the engine for just seven minutes a day, enough to defrost the vehicle. He kept the snow from piling up on the vehicle and spent a lot of time meditating in his sleeping bag. When he ran out of food and water, he drank from puddles.

also i think there was a salesman who got lost in the same area james kim did a few years ago and died after waiting ~1 month


EDIT:

link

The car got stuck in a snowbank and Kim used much of his gas to finally pull out of it. They traveled another 15 miles on the narrow road-- used mostly by loggers-- before stopping for the night at a fork in the road.

They spent the next seven days together, during full days of rain and snow, occasionally running the engine and burning magazines and branches for heat. When they finished their few bottles of water, they melted snow to drink. Kim burned a tire for warmth one day, then the rest of them last Friday in hopes that the smoke would signal for help. They heard a helicopter in the distance, but never saw it.

On Saturday morning, after seven days in the car, Kim dressed in layers, filled a backpack, and began to walk what would be five miles up the road, then another five miles into a steep canyon, following a creek he thought would take him to Galice -- a town he saw on the map. But he was looking at a different creek on the map than the one he followed.

 

[akubi]

take a plane and don't blindly drive in the middle of nowhere during a blizzard

 

[ElFenix]

i wonder if there was any deadfall to make a fire with?

 

[WT]

Always follow the road ... you don't normally run into other drivers or rescue workers in the middle of the woods. He was only a half of a mile from a lodge, so you never retrace your steps, which is what he did. He knew how far he had driven and passed nothing, so forge ahead and continue along a path that offers your best chance of being found.

Such a sad loss too ... God be with him and watch over the family.

 

[amish]

i just have a question, did he know that there was an abandoned building somewhat close?

 

[michaels]

Well he could have been a real techie and had a flipping GPS!

 

[apex32]

Originally posted by: akubi
take a plane and don't blindly drive in the middle of nowhere during a blizzard

QFT, However he was trying to do good and get help for his family, slept in the woods and went through freezing water and whatnot..sounds like a decent guy.

 

[Mill]

I'm seriously considering the idea of a satellite phone. They aren't *that* expensive, and if you only used it for an emergency... I think your life is worth 500-1000 bucks.

 

[wheresmybacon]

Originally posted by: her34
timeline

now that some time has passed i think it's a better point to address this question. it's not meant to belittle what james kim did, but for educational purposes.

for this discussion let's ignore the preparation measures he could have taken (gps, satellite phone, personal locator beacon, better clothing, more food).

There's really not much left to say if you ignore preparation. Humans aren't fit to survive in those types of conditions without some serious supplies.

 

[akubi]

Originally posted by: michaels
Well he could have been a real techie and had a flipping GPS!

gps's don't work well in really bad weather or in the middle of the woods. at least mine doesn't

 

[mugs]

Build a shelter after the first day.

Find wood to burn.

 

[FoBoT]

he could have stayed in the car, with the wife/kids
they made it, so he would have made it

 

[JulesMaximus]

You should never leave your vehicle if stranded in the middle of nowhere. That was the fatal mistake.

 

[0roo0roo]

leave an axe and machette in the trunk. though is it legal to carry around a machette like that all the time?

 

[chrisms]

Originally posted by: JulesMaximus
You should never leave your vehicle if stranded in the middle of nowhere. That was the fatal mistake.

Its hard to imagine what it would actually be like out there. Sure there is a search operation, but as far as you know nobody knows where you are. Although not something I could imagine myself doing given his lack of equiptment, I can see how he would reach the conclusion that going out on his own was a good choice. Especially when you factor in desperation and the urge to save your family.

The car was much easier to spot than his body in a ravine. His second fatal mistake was going down there, for whatever reason. A senseless death in every way.

 

[Squisher]

Originally posted by: WT
Always follow the road ... you don't normally run into other drivers or rescue workers in the middle of the woods. He was only a half of a mile from a lodge, so you never retrace your steps, which is what he did. He knew how far he had driven and passed nothing, so forge ahead and continue along a path that offers your best chance of being found.

Such a sad loss too ... God be with him and watch over the family.

:thumbsup:

Some survival gear in the trunk, MREs, blankets. My blankets, ponchos, flares, shovel, axe have been transfered from car to car for twenty years now.

A good map of the area would have been nice to have.

 

[oogabooga]

It sounds like he did stay on the road initially but after some time he wandered off the road. Might have just been losing it? It's hard to say... I do think waiting in the car would have been the best bet, but what he did was noble to say the very least.

I don't even wanna imagine how hard it would be to keep functioning logically worrying about your family freezing while you're freezing wandering the woods.

 

[Mo0o]

i think i would save one tire to wait for helicopters and search planes

 

[0roo0roo]

add a saw, start burning that forest around u till someone sees smoke

 

[isekii]

I probably would've made a forest fire

Park a car near some trees then burn the car and watch everything else burn

 

[jammur21]

One of those green laser penlights that show the full beam would have been pretty good.

On Discovery Health channel they had a special where theuy subjected a big burly mountain climber to mental and dexterity tests while hitting him with cold temp., water sprayed on him, and wind. After an hour or two he couldn't figure out simple word puzzles or screw pegs into a board because he was shaking so much. When they hit him with the mist, you could see the heat getting sucked out of his body on the thermal camera. They stopped the test when his core temp hit 95/96, by then he was a complete mess.

 

[Fern]

Originally posted by: FoBoT
he could have stayed in the car, with the wife/kids
they made it, so he would have made it

Yep,

And I'll bet there was plenty of firewood available (dead branches still on trees etc). Water (snow) was readily available, food w/b a problem though.

But you can't fault the guy, under such difficult circumstances- & with kids - the question of when to give up waiting for help and try to hike out is a very difficult one. Given that we now know the road they were on was closed, and the gate should have been locked, its alittle difficult to expect help to arrive.

Fern

 

[FoBoT]

no, not trying to second guess him, he did the best he could

just answering the OP question

 

[SludgeFactory]

He could've kept a copy of US_Army_survival_manual.pdf on his emergency backup blackberry.

He seemed like a decent guy, one of the few I liked as ZDTV/TechTV went from just moderately sh!tty to utterly unwatchable sh!t.

 

[0roo0roo]

Originally posted by: jammur21
One of those green laser penlights that show the full beam would have been pretty good.

On Discovery Health channel they had a special where theuy subjected a big burly mountain climber to mental and dexterity tests while hitting him with cold temp., water sprayed on him, and wind. After an hour or two he couldn't figure out simple word puzzles or screw pegs into a board because he was shaking so much. When they hit him with the mist, you could see the heat getting sucked out of his body on the thermal camera. They stopped the test when his core temp hit 95/96, by then he was a complete mess.

heh reminds me of something i recently watched, jeremy clarksons speed series. they stuck him in a pressure chamber to see what happens in a plane rapid decompression scenario. after a few seconds of breathing lower pressure air he became silly, they handed him a toddler toy, round bit of plastic with shaped holes for putting the matching bits of blocks through and he couldn't do it, after a while when they asked him to put on his mask he couldn't be bothered he was so silly. guess thats why they tell u to put ur mask on before dealing with your kid.