The story of the Kim family from San Francisco is as gripping as it is heartbreaking. As a new father myself I can only imagine what was going through James Kim’s head as he slowly came to realise that after a week buried in the snow his wife and children were slowly dying and that he as the father and protector had to do something to save them.
Second guessing and Monday morning quarterbacking aside on whether they should have been on that road in the first place, what would you do after a week in the snow with no food? All the survival experts say to remain in place and not to leave your vehicle. Rescuers will find you faster in a stranded vehicle than alone on foot…but what if nobody comes after a whole week? It would appear that James Kim followed the correct survival protocols as long as humanely possible before setting off on foot for help.
Several weeks ago I took my family and new baby to Yosemite and we got stuck on the wrong side of the Sierra when a snowstorm blew in and Highway 120 was closed behind us. We were forced to drive up the eastern side of the range and spend an additional night in a motel in Tahoe where the little un slept in a dresser drawer under the TV. I didn’t want to chance any of the other on the way up there passes because the weather looked too risky.
It always seems to be the first big storm of the year that catches people in the outdoors unprepared for the possible consequences.
I saw a report that said internet maps (google, yahoo) show that route as the shortest/fastest. They don’t show that it can really only be used in the summer.
I remember playing those games where you are given a list of items that you need to survive. In all of them, to win, you had to stay where you are, and try to survive. You can live a while on water (melted snow) and I would have just bet that with all the people aware of where you were going, that help would be coming.
He would have driven to the place they ended up and known they were out of walking distance so I’m not sure I would see the reason to start walking (unless there was another road in the vicinity)
I think by leaving, he doubled his family’s chance of survival. By having people in two different places, the chances of getting spotted are better. If you recall the story of James Stolpa, he left his family in a cave while he trekked over 60 miles in the snow to get help. Had he not left, they all would have died.
stay with the car, siphon some gas and make a big fire. throw some rubber on there and the smoke will be seen for miles.
They had already burned all the gas and all the cars tires.
When I was about 22, my husband and I and a couple of our friends took a small sailboat out for a spin. It was approaching dusk and the weather was turning. In short, we were idiots for even starting out in those conditions. To make matters worse, the sail got tangled and we were unable to tack back to shore. We drifted on the water as it became dark and the wind started picking up. We ended up on the uninhabited far side of the lake. After a couple of hours, my husband and his best friend decided to swim across the lake to the nearest house to get help. They were both wearing life jackets, but the swim was probably about 2 miles and in complete darkness. Another couple of hours later, a coast guard boat discovered those of us that remained on the shore. When we told them about the two guys that had decided to swim across, they got very concerned looks on their faces. Turned out, the rescue had been called by the folks who owned the boat and not by my husband and friend. We then spent the next hour slowing making our way across the lake screaming my husband and his friend’s name. Those were some bad moments. We never did find them in the water, but when we got back to the dock, they had called in – they’d made it to the other side.
The take-away from that bone-headed adventure (other than test your equipment before you go and don’t go for a sail when the sun is setting and the weather is turning) was stay in place. But, I can’t imagine staying in place for seven days in brutal cold with children – every instinct would be screaming to go find help. I don’t know if Kim made a mistake or not, but I sincerely hope he is alive.
Excuse my ignorance as I have no knowledge of the area. How does one get to a place that no one knows you are there in a car? As someone later in this thread posted “He was looking for the road”? Is that true? and if so how did they get so far from the road?
Over the years I’ve seen other cases like this so something must be going on. I just don’t undestand how someone can travel from point A to Point B and “Loose the road”. Is it that they get lost and people are just looking for them on the wrong roads?
I guess I just don’t understand how this type of thing even happens. I can see if the goal was to go exploring or something, but wasn’t the family “Traveling”?
One piece missing from this is that the rescuers found his tracks. They quickly led downhill to moving water (or a washout or something) where they abruptly stopped. Doesn’t look good for this guy. My guess is that he thought, hey if I can find water I can follow it to some semblance of civilization. This isn’t always the best situation. As soon as he got wet, it was over for him with no way to dry off and stay warm.
I think his best idea would have been to stay near the vehicle which provided protection from the elements better than any shelter he could build. Gather fuel to be dried for a fire, and forage (as I think the wife did, finding berries or something) until help arrived. As long as they had a fresh water source, they weren’t going to be in serious trouble for several more days.
As I understand it, they used an infrequently traveled road that unfortunately was snowed in and became impassable. I can imagine that in a wooded area like that, it would be very, very easy to get turned around looking for roads when all you see is white.
I think I would have done the same thing he did–everything in my power to get my family to safety. Being the impatient person that I am, I doubt I would have waited a week…for better or worse. I don’t think anyone can second guess this guy, I hope he’s safe.
Spot
It’s possible that one moment you are driving in the rain on a wooded road, no worries. A few minutes later it’s snowing. Before you even realize it, the road behind you that was rain soaked is now snow covered and virtually impossible to see. Once you can’t see the road anymore you’re boned.
I understand how someone gets “Stuck” I just don’t understand how someone can’t be found. Only thing that makes sense to me is A) They were lost or taking a route that was different from the “normal” route. Got of the normal road and into the sticks somehow B) no one knew where they were going.
Again I’m completely ignorant of the situation and area, but as stated before this is not a first time case so I’m curious how it happens.
If you’re on a road and you get stuck you’re pretty easy to find **IF **people know the route you were taking or there are only a few choices to get from A to B and people know you where headed to B.
Yeah I would have a hard time waiting too… Although I think they said he had a lighter so I would have built the biggest MF fire that I could for that entire week.
I also was thinking about a couple of other things…
– Leave plenty of markers for searchers including writing with rocks (cairns) etc
– Put a small ax in the trunk along with a blanket and other things that I normally have in winter
– Put a small compass in the car
– Try to burn down a telephone or power pole if there are any around
– Cell phones also use a hidden control channel that has a much longer range than the voice channel. Use your phone battery wisely so if you do move you can turn it on periodically and let it ping any tower in the area
– Don’t waste car gas
– Don’t waste your car battery (horns can be heard a long way).
– Watch for airplanes and use a CD as a signal mirror (look though the hole and line up thumb with object illuminating part of your thumb to aim)
– Keep a small shovel in the trunk
Finding firewood in a rain soaked forest without an axe while starving might not be a good expenditure of energy. Maybe it’s possible, it also might burn off what little energy reserves you have left for survival. I’m sure they tried a lot of things and didn’t think of others.
From what I’ve read and seen on the news, the rescue personnel who found the mother and children said they did a remarkable job of staying alive and in good health. The fact that they are all still alive and well after 9 days buried in the snow with nothing but a can of cheese wiz and a box of crackers is pretty good testament that after they got lost they did a lot of things right.