High Sierra Topix

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This just came out a little while ago. I'm pretty much in awe of the effort.

Dad trekked farther than thought
San Francisco man hiked 16 miles in search of help for stranded family
The Associated Press
Updated: 6:45 p.m. PT Dec 9, 2006
PORTLAND, Ore. - A San Francisco man who was stranded with his family in the snowy wilderness walked more than 16 miles in search of help before he died — six more than originally thought, a search official said Saturday.

James Kim, 35, his wife and their two daughters were about seven miles from a fishing lodge stocked with food, not the one mile as authorities earlier thought, said Phil Turnbull, a fire chief in Josephine County.

A mapping error led to the incorrect figures, but did not affect the search for Kim, Turnbull said.

Turnbull said it was important to “set the public record straight” and “to emphasize the efforts Mr. Kim made to rescue his family.”

The Kims were returning to San Francisco on Nov. 25 and had gotten stuck in snow after taking a wrong turn down a logging road that is normally blocked by a gate. Vandals apparently had cut the lock on the gate, officials said.

Kim’s wife, Kati, 30, and their two young daughters were rescued Monday, two days after he struck out on foot in search of help. James Kim was found dead of exposure in a mountain creek Wednesday.

The owner of the lodge said he didn’t recognize the area as being near his lodge and double-checked.


Turnbull said the vehicle was 6.37 miles farther along the road, meaning James Kim had walked that much farther than searchers first thought.


“Holy smokes, that was superhuman effort to get that many miles,” owner John James told the Grants Pass Daily Courier, referring to James Kim. The newspaper first reported about the error.


© 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

I just watched a helicopter rescue today on a local hike; guy may have blown out his knee; was sitting on the trail with some other people; thought maybe he was tired or maybe twisted an ankle. A few minutes later the helicopter flew over and lowered an EMT, secured him, and then the copter flew them off. What a difference if something like that happens away from civilization. It just makes you think.....

mountaineer wrote:Well that sucks! My paper today said they drove past signs that said the road could be closed by snow. There is ALWAYS something else to the story.

A common denominator in many tragedies is people who knew better continued on into deteriorating conditions, well past the point where the obvious warning indicators were shouting to stop -- Storm King firefighters, The Challenger shuttle disaster, numerous aircraft crashes, et al.

This is a well known phenomenom in accident investigations.

A common denominator in many tragedies is people who knew better continued on into deteriorating conditions, well past the point where the obvious warning indicators were shouting to stop

Another way to describe it is a loss of situational awareness.

cmon4day wrote:

A common denominator in many tragedies is people who knew better continued on into deteriorating conditions, well past the point where the obvious warning indicators were shouting to stop

Another way to describe it is a loss of situational awareness.

Loss of SA is a related phenomenom. In the examples I gave several individuals involved knew the risks, recognized the threats, and ignored well established safety practices to continue on into increasing danger. Whether Kim knew the risks and continued on or did not recognize/identify the risks may never be known.

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This was just posted in the past few hours:


Warning signs marked Kim family's journey
POSTED: 2:21 a.m. EST, December 12, 2006
By Drew Griffin
CNN


MERLIN, Oregon (CNN) -- We came to Oregon to retrace the path James Kim and his family took the day they got stranded in the Rogue River wilderness.

When we finally reached the spot where the Kims' car stopped after a long, winding journey, our traveling companions -- Sgt. Joel Heller, Josephine County Sheriff's office, and John James, owner of the Black Bar Lodge -- both had the same exact thought: Why did the Kims continue down such a desolate path when they so clearly did not know where they were going?

Though it is heart wrenching to question the decisions made by a man who died trying to save his family, it is hard not to wonder.

Three times, we passed large yellow signs warning that snow may completely block the roadway.

Eventually, we came to a fork in the road where a tiny sign -- almost invisible unless you actually stop the car and focus on it -- pointed the way to the Oregon Coast. The sign pointed left. The Kims drove right.

This was obviously the wrong direction. It was one lane, no guardrail, no markings, no "winding road ahead" signs, no speed limit signs, no nothing.

During our daylight journey, the road was so hazardous, so covered with snow and ice that a CNN satellite truck operator refused to continue, fearing the truck could go over the side.

The pavement began to break up, then turn to gravel, and finally to dirt.

This was an old logging road used only in summer by lodge owners hauling supplies. In winter, it was not generally in use.

In fact, beginning November 1 a gate usually blocked the road. Somebody must have broken the lock and left the gate open. Had it been shut and locked, the Kims could not have gone down the road at all.

But they did. Twenty miles down that desolate road, James and Kati Kim and their two young daughters found themselves stranded in the snowy wilderness.

By the time we came to the spot they stopped, our four-wheel-drive vehicle was being battered on both sides by overhanging branches and bushes.

This is where the Kims stayed for nine days, and the spot from which James Kim set off on foot on a journey into the Oregon wilderness that resulted in his death.