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06 December 2006
James Kim, RIP→[More:]Alternate Title of this post: Don't leave the car to look for help. Seriously, it's a horrible idea. It will end poorly.
Oh no. That's terrible, I really feel for his family. And yes, please please please stay with your car and have a few emergency supplies on hand (blanket, granola bars, bottled water, matches, etc.).
When I first visited Alaska, I was laughing at the woman who made us pack ridiculous amounts of clothing in the car just to drive an hour to dinner, in July.
The whole story is terrifying. If I ever get a car, even if I live in New York City or Florida, I'm filling the trunk to the brim with matches, clothes, blankets, food, water.
Does anyone else remember that family who, in the 90s, became stuck in the snow, left the car, but managed to find some cave where they holed up, eating tortillas and drinking snow? The car was found within days, but the cave wasn't located for at least a week.
Also, I've been driving back and forth across the cascades quite a bit for a project I've been working on in eastern Oregon. My mom keept telling me to bring a sandwich and water in the car, but I didn't take it very seriously, especially given how diligent ODOT is at keeping Hwy 26 open. Last week, I ran out of time and just hopped a flight over there instead. I think that's what I'll do from now on in the winter. So long as I can expense plane fare, why fuck around with snow? I don't even know how to put the chains on my tires.
Stories like this always bring out hope- wild, imaginative hope. Because there's one in a million stories where there's a magical cave full of tortillas, or she was alive the whole time (remember Elizabeth Smart? disappereared for a year, and then they found her?), or something. So we wish hard every time that something magic will have happened. I don't believe anyone who says they don't believe in magic, not even a little bit down in the bottom of their heart.
I don't even know where Updike came from. Fetuses are stupid-making. It's a fact!
It's really not a bad idea, TPS. There have been a couple of times around here where the turnpike backed up for 12+ hours. Not necessarily life threatening, but dangerous if it's really hot, really cold and/or you're travelling with a baby.
Once it was so bad that the many of the people whose houses bordered the road walked around handing out sandwiches and drinks and letting people use their cellphones to call home.
I was thinking about him and this family all last night, and really hoping that he'd make it to the rescuers.
It's not like he hopped out of the car when they realized they were stuck. The family had been missing since Nov. 25. I can't really blame him for trying to go get help: he waited seven days, and was getting desparate.
I just can't imagine what his poor wife must have been thinking, both when he walked away from the car, and when the rescuers couldn't find him.
I live in Grants Pass which isn't far from this terrible, sad episode. It's cold here and overcast, foggy and all around depressing today. It's 2 pm and no sun yet. It just seems to be synchronized with the mood most of us are in.
I feel sorry for the family. What's worse, when the news broke that they had found his jeans, I knew he was gone. Hypothermia is an ironic bitch - it always makes you stupider, and can make you feel overheated - a bad combo.
It's a shame that people don't know how to best help the Search & Rescue folks - stay put, keep as warm and hydrated as possible, insulate yourself from the cold ground, light a fire if you can, light 3 fires if you can, try to spread out things that will be visible from a helicopter, making shapes that are not natural in order to catch the eye. And carry a whistle! You will shout yourself hoarse in an hour, but you can blow 3 sharp blasts every few minutes for days on end.
Tragic, yet... I just can't feel sorry for the guy. I feel sorry for the kids, but I've traveled all over the country at all times of the year, and I just can't imagine putting my family at risk by driving off on some rarely-used road. I just can't.
I can say I wouldn't even get in the same situation. It isn't like they were thrust into this by events beyond their control. They put themselves there. Tragic, but totally avoidable.
Just can't get this story out of my head this afternoon. I think what's most heartbreaking to me is not just that he died, but (as a couple of people have noted on the MeFi thread) that he died never knowing that his wife and children had been rescued. I keep imagining him, beginning to realize he wasn't going to make it, and thinking that they were still stranded back in the car .... auggghhh.
Well if you ever showed up here, TPS, I would give you good enough advice (and put you up) that you would likely not find yourself in such a predicament.
The Siskiyous are very very rugged. For my trip down I-5 for tgiving, I prepared for the worst, even though I never planned on leaving the corridor.
There is a lot I do not understand about their case. I have not read everything about it but I can imagine the family dynamics, the "we're late, we need to check into this place in Gold Beach" etc. The sensible route would have been to go down 199 into CA then back-track up to Gold Beach. More snow than usual for this time of year. . .a combination of somewhat freaky weather and poor decision making.
Once Kati and the kids were found and it was announced that he had gone on his own, I just knew this would be the result. Mother Nature doesn't play favorites.
Don't be afraid of Oregon folks, just be aware nature can fuck you up if you're not paying attention and prepared for problems. 99% of the time you'll feel silly for having a few extra items in your trunk, but on the 1% chance something goes wrong, you'll be glad you were silly.
He was an editor on a website? Doesn't that fall somewhere below "blogebrity" on the celebrity food chain? It's a shame he's dead, but it's a shame a lot of people are dead.
Yeah, I know, I'm insensitive. I will never understand public grieving, especially over someone you've never met.
Terrible story. I've been hooked on it here and on Mefi since I found out. Hope the family copes... And for everyone else, please when small kids are involved, do.take.precautions.
Eide, dear, I hear you but lets keep these thoughts for a bit later.
I personally think it is good that these stories come out and spread like that: I would have never ever known what to do in such a situation, I am horrified to realize. And I do not think I am the only one...
Sorry, but I had a close friend pass away recently. I'm wondering how many people who are all "ooh, ahh" over this story are going through the obituaries in their local paper daily, and taking time to mourn for every single stranger equally. And I wonder how many are spending time obsessing over this story that could be spent reminding people they actually know how much they are valued while they're still alive. It seems like there's a lot of rubbernecking going on wearing a mask of concern, and that makes me both angry and sick to my stomach.
Sorry to be harsh. I'm feeling a lot of things right now and I can't really "keep them for later." Everyone's allowed to grieve their own way, and I wish you all well as you remember how James touched your lives. Don't think my opinions on the matter color my opinions of you because these moments will pass, and disagreements come and go, even between the best of friends. I still love MetaChat and all the bunnies; which is probably the reason I feel, as a community member, the need to speak my mind.
If you had posted here about your friend (as others have done occasionally) we would've shared your sadness. I am very sorry for your friend and for what you feel right now. Lets all take what we can/want from the stories we hear and let the others do the same. Take care, bunny, mkay? *hugs*
I wouldn't have answered you if I didn't feel comfortable to talk to you.
Really? I'm afraid I've been too harried lately to remember when I've disagreed with you so consistently that I could create such certainty, but I'll take your word for it. I'd have disagreed with anyone who took the position you took though. In fact I'd probably have disagreed in a ruder way if it was many people other than you. I guess this is the kind of thing I'd rather discuss further in a private way.
Yeah, but I think it was being on TV that made him connect with so many more people. He was also in the Bay Area, and there are a lot of people online from there, magnifying things.
"Sorry, but I had a close friend pass away recently. "
"I still love MetaChat and all the bunnies"
Sorry to be harsh Eideteker but if you love us put a real e-mail in your profile. I had something I wanted to share. It was not critical but it was not for a public forum either.
Aargh. I wasn't going to say anything because I'm sure it was probably covered in the other thread that I didn't read... but, they didn't have a cell phone? How could they not have a cell phone? Or was it just out of range? I don't expect everyone to have a cell, but for traveling, you really want to have one.
Also, if I understand correctly, the state or "official" map showed that the road shouldn't be used in winter? Why didn't they have a sign up on the road saying not to use it, instead of hoping that travelers might happen to be using the proper map?
Also, if the road is totally covered in snow, and you see no other travelers, shouldn't this be an indication to turn around and go back? Sadly, this reminds me of all the people who either drown or get trapped in cars by crossing flooding roads, thinking the water's not that deep. Such a sad, tragic story, and all too unavoidable.
taz, with that ruggedness. . steep canyons, etc. it is likely that there was no cell tower within range. even in more 'civilized' parts of of the state, it's out of cell range and a few times I have hiked to the tops of ridges, just to see if I could get a signal (not emergencies) but could not.
They did have a cell phone, that's how the rescuers found the car. ("Rescuers" is such a silly word, but I don't remember who did the rescuing.) There was something about a ping from a cellphone that they were able to trace. (Can ya tell I'm not techy?)
[matthew 18:12-13] how think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray? and if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray.
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