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Just heard the headline via ABC….
Damn!
J/P=?
If he wasnt trying to be a hero and leave his family to find help… he probably wouldve been found with his family.
Just heard the press conference. What a tragedy. I’ll pray deeply for his family.
Hopefully, others will remember this case in the future and not make the same unfortunate mistake. Truly sad to see he’s dead.
Scott…that’s easy to say from your warm, snuggly keyboard. Until you’ve been in James’ position you have no idea what that would be like.
RIP, James.
just got back to my desk with a weird feeling in my stomach like something was wrong, open up digg and i see 3 stories on the front about James. my heart just sunk.
“Olo Baggins of Bywater ” He should have stayed with his family, leaving alone by himself wasnt a great idea, what if something where to happen to him? He could have gotten lost, he couldve broken an ankle, or gotten attacked by a wild animal. Staying with 3 other people would have been a smarter decision in my opinion.
#7, I think it can be shown that people don’t always make rational decisions when faced with an emergency. However, there’s really no need to bash the dead. Just make note of the mistake and hope others learn.
Very sorry to hear this, hoping the best for the family.
my sympathy for the family.
note from the grammar police – since James is a singular noun, the proper form of the possessive should be James’s.
Mike…it depends on the style guide you’re (not your) using. 🙂
What a brave guy.
I don’t understand the people saying he should have stayed.. He *did* stay with them for a week. At some point you have to go out and try and do something yourself.. We still don’t know why he didn’t come back that afternoon..
Stay with the car. It’s much easier to see.
Geez, everyone saying he should have stayed… IF ONLY he had a time machine and could have seen into the FUTURE. 😛
It had been 7 days. He wasn’t thinking about his own safety, he was concerned with the safety of his wife and 2 small children. Yes, it didn’t work out that way in the end but you know what? I would have done the same in a heartbeat.
I thought during the first couple days he would do something very Macgyveresque like boosting an analog cell phone’s wattage with his car battery or something creative. At least he tried.
Oh well his reviews were always too brief and vague.
I feel sorry for the family, but #2 was correct – people that DONT KNOW HOW to survive in the wilderness should stay out of it entirely – this may sounds like harsh criticism, but I can say this because I grew up in the wilderness and I know how to survive in rural/wilderness areas – hunter/gathering, if you will. I dont enjoy doing it, but when the world ends, I’ll survive it.
I doubt they had food in the car to last a week. It must had been hard to watch your love ones suffering and being unable to do anything about it. No after a week and no one finding them it was time to try something. Just like that guy who hike out and was spotted by the copters after him, his wife and baby had been snow bound. It work for him but just didn’t work for James. I wish the out come would have been different.
RIP James Kim
Snow crazy — an old phrase that used to mean doing irrational things after being cooped up for too long. I’d say, that the irrational thought of “leaving to get help” was something that he couldn’t have been talked out of. People do odd things when they are at the end of their ropes..and I’d guess that after a week stuck, no food, endless cold…. it pushed him to DO something.
I’m really sorry to hear that he was found dead. I, like everyone, were hoping he’d be found alive.
However, as a warning to everyone….if you KNOW bad weather is coming, and you are treading on foreign roads….at least call someone and TELL THEM what you are doing!! Just a short message to anyone, saying “we’re going on route, blah blah blah, because we missed the turn off” would have taken a minute, at most. And, as a second thing to consider, if you know a storm is heading your way……CHANGE YOUR PLANS!!! Get away from thinking “we’re on vacation so everything is wonderful and nothing could ever happen”. The world is not all Disneyland, and safe and secure. There are real dangers…..out there, and even asking some locals if the route you are considering is a good one, given the weather and time of year, would have been a smart move.
The man was not a “hero”. He made some mistakes, and then did his best, and then gave into irrational thought instead of common sense. He was just a man. I’m very sorry for the loss.
Condolences to the Kim family.
This is tragic news. I don’t think he was stupid for leaving the car, as some of you have said. As far as I’m concerned, the guy is a hero. If they reached the point where they had to burn the tires to stay warm, you gotta figure James felt they had no chance unless he went looking for help. RIP James
I’m sorry for the family’s loss. This whole thing showed what to do and what not to do in this kind of situation. It’s just too bad it had to end this way.
I am truly sorry.
Sorry to hear this…
I would have been packing out the 2nd or 3rd day…down the road..
Take the Wife and kids, if still able.
Mr. Kim was a brave man. After being trapped with his family he ventured out into the wilderness in the hopes of saving his family’s life. In the end, his effort was in vain as his family was discovered on their own.
While many say he should have stayed, I don’t think he saw it that way. After a week of being stranded he assumed that no help would be coming and so he went to go and find it.
At the end, remember one thing…. he went out to try to save his wife and kids, and they are still alive. Somewhere Mr. Kim is looking down and smiling.
Rest In Peace, James Kim
you guys need to quit watching the John Wayne movies and buying into the “he was a hero going out on his own” bulls**t. Even a boyscout will tell you that staying together is the best, and should be the ONLY choice. You do NOT go out into the wilderness alone, period. It’s a good way to get hurt, killed, eaten, etc. It does no one any good.
And, in the snow, alone, it’s very easy to get disoriented, hypothermia is not something to take lightly….you hallucinate, you get weird…and you can really do some stupid things. I’d guess he was suffering from that..when he decided to follow a rough ravine instead of the road. This isn’t “hero” it’s flat out nuts!!! Unless you’ve seen what extreme stress and hunger, cold and fear can do….you wouldn’t understand. People need people around….or they lose it. Hence why setting out on his own, alone, was probably the dumbest thing he could have done.
No, I am not knocking the dead. I’m warning all the “I’d do the same thing” or “he’s a hero”. He did what some people do under stress…they flip out. Try and remember this if you are under stress. That all thoughts are not good thoughts, and what works in movies RARELY works out in real life.
The key thought of the day: stay togther, do not split up
He should have stayed with the car…”
He did for a full week, if your family was sitting there scared cold and hungry for a WEEK with no sign of rescue you would have done the same thing.
“He should have not gone down a backroad…”
Have you ever missed your offramp and tried to find your way back to the right one before? You are lying if you say you haven’t.
“He should have told someone what he was doing”
He did, but he missed his offramp.
“Stay out of the wilderness if you don’t know how to survive”
I take it you never drive more than 100 miles in any direction? No matter where you go there is always wilderness. His family was on vacation and they were taking well-known roads. Plus he did do as much as he could for a week.
“He should have just turned around”
Hindsight is 20/20 isn’t it? Yes he should have but how the hell was he supposed to know this was going to happen? Or that the road was closed?
Folks, he did his family fine. He was quite courageous in his actions. This should be enough.
Two days stuck in a car seems like a month. No normal person in charge of others could have stayed put even as long as he did.
His family was found because of a fluke. Which happened to be an enterprising cellphone company employee.
Froggmann, I log a fair amount of long distance driving a month (300 to 850 miles at a time). I’ve driving through every kind of weather. I never drive unprepared..always have a wool blanket, waterproof gloves, hat, emergency flares, chains, and a flashlight. I bring food and water.
I’ve taken first aid and wilderness survival classes.
Now, I’ve been though Oregon on I-5 about 70 times. I can’t see how he missed his exit, as they are well marked. The rest stops are all manned…they have free coffee stands, populated by locals. Many of the rest stops have information, maps and all have telephones. It’s never difficult to ask about an intended route…in fact, people are more than willing to help. They stopped in Roseburg….there were dozens of places to stop and ask for help between there and Grants Pass. But, the map probably made the route they chose look like the most direct…..road maps aren’t accurate.
A storm was coming in like a freight train….with snow expected at the 1000 foot mark, and perhaps below. All of the Pacific Northwest was going to be hit, and hit hard. There were chain warnings on all the passes on I-5.
So, you tell me, was it stubborn stupidity or courageous actions that made them adhere to their goal of getting to the coast over a mountain road?
And, yes, he should have stayed with the car. There is no way you can argue…this. It was a dumb thing, no matter WHAT the circumstances. You stay together, that’s the FIRST rule of being stranded.
Geez! You must be niave, or never go anywhere.