I live in the bay area- it's fuckin heart wrenching over here. I was really hoping he'd make it out. The worst part is he never knew if his family made it.
A lot of us could only hope to be of his character.
CnetTV has a tribute to James Kim with some of his selected moments of his work online.
I never really wanted to respond in threads about this subject. Only hoped that the rescuers would find him or that his search for the way out of that harsh wilderness would be successful.
Throw in a wrong turn on your typical back-country, West-Coast logging road "system" -- not good. As soon as he lost his tire tracks back out to the highway, they were in trouble. Combine that with the cold....there is a saying "Cotton kills".
I still know very little about this story and the man, but it still boggles my mind that someone could go unprepared into this area of the wilderness, and worse yet, die so quickly in so short of a distance. I actually feel terrible for their family and friends.
Every year I go primitive camping in NorCal- Mendocino National Forest, Lassen... and this is in the summer, and you can easily die of hypothermia -especially at night. And when I go, I am completely prepared with the best tech, food, and equipment you can buy.
When I go on a road trip with friends, I do not pack the same equipment. Do you have a GPS, layers of appropriate cold weather clothing, hiking boots, camping food, stove, etc? Would you pack all that to go to a hotel 50 miles away?
You obviously have no experience in the outdoors- from looking at the terrain, and considering the clothes he was wearing- that man is a god for making it as far as he did in those temperatures wearing what he was with no training. Go look at a topo map of that area- but still it won't mean much to you unless you've been in similar terrain. It's not a matter of walking ten miles, let me assure you. I am in very good shape, and I am not sure I could make the same hike in a similar fashion i.e tennis shoes a sweater, and a jacket with jeans.
Just respect the man instead of delving into arm chair quarterbacking him. That shit has been going on for days in S.F., and there's just no place for it.
And now for a helpful positive contribution- best thing you can put in your glove box is a nice book called the SAS survival handbook by "Lofty". That book will get you out of any situation.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SpamSandwich
I still know very little about this story and the man, but it still boggles my mind that someone could go unprepared into this area of the wilderness, and worse yet, die so quickly in so short of a distance. I actually feel terrible for their family and friends.
I wonder what they had in terms of cellular devices. You'd think being a CNET editor his or his wife's, being a tech person as well would have had something that was charged enough to call 911. All cell phones have an emergency 911 location output in them so that 911 can get your location if you call them.
Every respect for him trying to save his family, but isn't the #1 rule of being stranded to 'stay with the vehicle'? I know it got drummed into me growing up in upstate NY (believe it or not there are still places up there where you can get lost for days) that it's much easier for searchers to find a vehicle on the roads than a human lost in the woods, plus even a dead car provides some shelter from the elements.
I agree that he lasted much longer in that situation than I would probably have.
I wonder what they had in terms of cellular devices. You'd think being a CNET editor his or his wife's, being a tech person as well would have had something that was charged enough to call 911. All cell phones have an emergency 911 location output in them so that 911 can get your location if you call them.
Apparently they weren't able to get a steady signal to communicate, but a brief contact was enough to narrow the search area:
Quote:
One of Edge Wireless' cell phone towers briefly connected with one of the family's phones at about 1:30 a.m. November 26 near Glendale, Ore. The phone was connected long enough to the network to send a notice that there was a voice mail or text message waiting. But the connection didn't last long enough for the Kims to retrieve the message or initiate a call for help.
Still, the connection was long enough that two Edge Wireless engineers, Eric Fuqua and Noah Pugsley, were able to find this information in the CDR to determine that the family was in sector "Z" in the southwestern portion of the cell site's 26-mile radius. Wolf Peak's "Z" sector provides coverage to remote areas with little population and very little cell phone traffic. Using this information, authorities sent out rescue teams, which eventually located Kati Kim and her children.
To make things even more interesting, if their phones hadn't been GSM, they would not even been able to communicate at all...
Quote:
Anderson said that the family was lucky that they were Cingular Wireless subscribers. Edge Wireless uses the same GSM network technology that provides roaming coverage to Cingular customers. If the Kims' phone had been with a different provider that didn't have roaming coverage with Edge Wireless, then the company might not have received any signal at all after they left the major highway, and the cell phone would have been of little use to authorities trying to rescue them.
Every year I go primitive camping in NorCal- Mendocino National Forest, Lassen... and this is in the summer, and you can easily die of hypothermia -especially at night. And when I go, I am completely prepared with the best tech, food, and equipment you can buy.
When I go on a road trip with friends, I do not pack the same equipment. Do you have a GPS, layers of appropriate cold weather clothing, hiking boots, camping food, stove, etc? Would you pack all that to go to a hotel 50 miles away?
You obviously have no experience in the outdoors- from looking at the terrain, and considering the clothes he was wearing- that man is a god for making it as far as he did in those temperatures wearing what he was with no training. Go look at a topo map of that area- but still it won't mean much to you unless you've been in similar terrain. It's not a matter of walking ten miles, let me assure you. I am in very good shape, and I am not sure I could make the same hike in a similar fashion i.e tennis shoes a sweater, and a jacket with jeans.
Just respect the man instead of delving into arm chair quarterbacking him. That shit has been going on for days in S.F., and there's just no place for it.
And now for a helpful positive contribution- best thing you can put in your glove box is a nice book called the SAS survival handbook by "Lofty". That book will get you out of any situation.
I will assume you were making a general comment, because I do have quite a bit of experience in the outdoors, and I didn't want any comments to sound like armchair quarterbacking. I know the poor guy died, so don't take offense at any comments on the board. One thing I've learned from deaths in the family is that no one has the right to tell you how to react to death. Anyone who has not experienced it firsthand has no idea how to relate to it.
Do you have a link for the survival handbook, btw?
Right on- I was making it general, and also hoping no one would jump on that wagon. That kind of thing snowballs sometimes.
The book is awesome. I highly suggest it to anyone even if you don't camp outdoors. The breadth
of the book is insane- form the best way to survice a plane crash (at least where the odds are) to surviving in the ocean it has it. It was written by an SAS instructor who teaches survival to SAS candidates.
I will assume you were making a general comment, because I do have quite a bit of experience in the outdoors, and I didn't want any comments to sound like armchair quarterbacking. I know the poor guy died, so don't take offense at any comments on the board. One thing I've learned from deaths in the family is that no one has the right to tell you how to react to death. Anyone who has not experienced it firsthand has no idea how to relate to it.
Do you have a link for the survival handbook, btw?
I have followed James' work since his days back on ZDTV/TechTV and on to CNET. When this story first broke, I caught a glimpse of his picture on the evening news and immediately my heart sank. I remember his product reviews of digitial cameras for TechTV where he would go to the park in SF and take test shots of his kids... truly is sad.
Leo LaPorte, Patrick Norton and others are going to spend some time talking about James on the next TWiT podcast if anyone's interested.
I have followed James' work since his days back on ZDTV/TechTV and on to CNET. When this story first broke, I caught a glimpse of his picture on the evening news and immediately my heart sank. I remember his product reviews of digitial cameras for TechTV where he would go to the park in SF and take test shots of his kids... truly is sad.
Leo LaPorte, Patrick Norton and others are going to spend some time talking about James on the next TWiT podcast if anyone's interested.
I'd tune into Leo Laporte if he was broadcasting just about anything. Big TWiT supporter (y'know what I mean)
Comments
A lot of us could only hope to be of his character.
RIP James.
I never really wanted to respond in threads about this subject. Only hoped that the rescuers would find him or that his search for the way out of that harsh wilderness would be successful.
Now we can only offer our thoughts to his family.
http://www.layoutscene.com/james%2Dk...ath/index.html
and a bookmark:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<kml xmlns="http://earth.google.com/kml/2.1">
<Placemark>
\t<name>Bear Camp RD</name>
\t<description>This is apparently near where James Kim was missing.</description>
\t<LookAt>
\t\t<longitude>-123.7564649490029</longitude>
\t\t<latitude>42.58370626470845</latitude>
\t\t<altitude>0</altitude>
\t\t<range>5691.999500840716</range>
\t\t<tilt>8.097210150458702e-12</tilt>
\t\t<heading>-0.1776285159661655</heading>
\t</LookAt>
\t<styleUrl>root://styleMaps#default+nicon=0x307+hicon=0x317</styleUrl>
\t<Point>
\t\t<coordinates>-123.7541961930987,42.58049736613423,0</coordinates>
\t</Point>
</Placemark>
</kml>
I hope they do, such that simple problems such as a missed exit on a highway doesn't turn into a widow and kids growing up without a father!
There are few important lessions that peeps should learn from this tragedy.
I hope they do, such that simple problems such as a missed exit on a highway doesn't turn into a widow and kids growing up without a father!
It may have been a tech writing error: one map indicates that that road is often impassable; one does not.
EDIT: Just looked at the maps, looks like he did circle...
When I go on a road trip with friends, I do not pack the same equipment. Do you have a GPS, layers of appropriate cold weather clothing, hiking boots, camping food, stove, etc? Would you pack all that to go to a hotel 50 miles away?
You obviously have no experience in the outdoors- from looking at the terrain, and considering the clothes he was wearing- that man is a god for making it as far as he did in those temperatures wearing what he was with no training. Go look at a topo map of that area- but still it won't mean much to you unless you've been in similar terrain. It's not a matter of walking ten miles, let me assure you. I am in very good shape, and I am not sure I could make the same hike in a similar fashion i.e tennis shoes a sweater, and a jacket with jeans.
Just respect the man instead of delving into arm chair quarterbacking him. That shit has been going on for days in S.F., and there's just no place for it.
And now for a helpful positive contribution- best thing you can put in your glove box is a nice book called the SAS survival handbook by "Lofty". That book will get you out of any situation.
I still know very little about this story and the man, but it still boggles my mind that someone could go unprepared into this area of the wilderness, and worse yet, die so quickly in so short of a distance. I actually feel terrible for their family and friends.
I agree that he lasted much longer in that situation than I would probably have.
I wonder what they had in terms of cellular devices. You'd think being a CNET editor his or his wife's, being a tech person as well would have had something that was charged enough to call 911. All cell phones have an emergency 911 location output in them so that 911 can get your location if you call them.
Apparently they weren't able to get a steady signal to communicate, but a brief contact was enough to narrow the search area:
One of Edge Wireless' cell phone towers briefly connected with one of the family's phones at about 1:30 a.m. November 26 near Glendale, Ore. The phone was connected long enough to the network to send a notice that there was a voice mail or text message waiting. But the connection didn't last long enough for the Kims to retrieve the message or initiate a call for help.
Still, the connection was long enough that two Edge Wireless engineers, Eric Fuqua and Noah Pugsley, were able to find this information in the CDR to determine that the family was in sector "Z" in the southwestern portion of the cell site's 26-mile radius. Wolf Peak's "Z" sector provides coverage to remote areas with little population and very little cell phone traffic. Using this information, authorities sent out rescue teams, which eventually located Kati Kim and her children.
To make things even more interesting, if their phones hadn't been GSM, they would not even been able to communicate at all...
Anderson said that the family was lucky that they were Cingular Wireless subscribers. Edge Wireless uses the same GSM network technology that provides roaming coverage to Cingular customers. If the Kims' phone had been with a different provider that didn't have roaming coverage with Edge Wireless, then the company might not have received any signal at all after they left the major highway, and the cell phone would have been of little use to authorities trying to rescue them.
Full story.
Every year I go primitive camping in NorCal- Mendocino National Forest, Lassen... and this is in the summer, and you can easily die of hypothermia -especially at night. And when I go, I am completely prepared with the best tech, food, and equipment you can buy.
When I go on a road trip with friends, I do not pack the same equipment. Do you have a GPS, layers of appropriate cold weather clothing, hiking boots, camping food, stove, etc? Would you pack all that to go to a hotel 50 miles away?
You obviously have no experience in the outdoors- from looking at the terrain, and considering the clothes he was wearing- that man is a god for making it as far as he did in those temperatures wearing what he was with no training. Go look at a topo map of that area- but still it won't mean much to you unless you've been in similar terrain. It's not a matter of walking ten miles, let me assure you. I am in very good shape, and I am not sure I could make the same hike in a similar fashion i.e tennis shoes a sweater, and a jacket with jeans.
Just respect the man instead of delving into arm chair quarterbacking him. That shit has been going on for days in S.F., and there's just no place for it.
And now for a helpful positive contribution- best thing you can put in your glove box is a nice book called the SAS survival handbook by "Lofty". That book will get you out of any situation.
I will assume you were making a general comment, because I do have quite a bit of experience in the outdoors, and I didn't want any comments to sound like armchair quarterbacking. I know the poor guy died, so don't take offense at any comments on the board. One thing I've learned from deaths in the family is that no one has the right to tell you how to react to death. Anyone who has not experienced it firsthand has no idea how to relate to it.
Do you have a link for the survival handbook, btw?
The book is awesome. I highly suggest it to anyone even if you don't camp outdoors. The breadth
of the book is insane- form the best way to survice a plane crash (at least where the odds are) to surviving in the ocean it has it. It was written by an SAS instructor who teaches survival to SAS candidates.
http://www.amazon.com/SAS-Survival-H.../dp/0002171856
I will assume you were making a general comment, because I do have quite a bit of experience in the outdoors, and I didn't want any comments to sound like armchair quarterbacking. I know the poor guy died, so don't take offense at any comments on the board. One thing I've learned from deaths in the family is that no one has the right to tell you how to react to death. Anyone who has not experienced it firsthand has no idea how to relate to it.
Do you have a link for the survival handbook, btw?
Check out this site for supplies:
http://beprepared.com/Default.asp?
There are many, many others.
Leo LaPorte, Patrick Norton and others are going to spend some time talking about James on the next TWiT podcast if anyone's interested.
I have followed James' work since his days back on ZDTV/TechTV and on to CNET. When this story first broke, I caught a glimpse of his picture on the evening news and immediately my heart sank. I remember his product reviews of digitial cameras for TechTV where he would go to the park in SF and take test shots of his kids... truly is sad.
Leo LaPorte, Patrick Norton and others are going to spend some time talking about James on the next TWiT podcast if anyone's interested.
I'd tune into Leo Laporte if he was broadcasting just about anything. Big TWiT supporter (y'know what I mean)