What is Digg?475 Comments
- Moliket, on 10/12/2007, -9/+210I am so happy that at least his family survived. Thats what he really wanted the most. He would have searched forever to save them. This map shows how much strength that man had! R.I.P
- muaddib420, on 10/12/2007, -7/+191one question is why did he take off ahead of where they got stuck instead of just backtracking where they came from? it's 2 miles back to the lodge and the main road. perhaps more light could be shed by kati kim why james went the wrong direction.
- negativefx, on 10/12/2007, -31/+211WOAH, hold on a minute here... he was walking ON THE ROAD and nobody found him? Granted it's a seldom used road, but THERE WAS A SEARCH PARTY. W-T-F
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -7/+126!!!
Look how close he was to returning to the car!
This is just heartbreaking. - hunchback, on 10/12/2007, -3/+109Look how close he was to the Lodge! Heartbreaking.
- Devoboy, on 10/12/2007, -13/+88Because a couple of days is too much time to remember someone, right?
You know you can choose which stories to open, no? - extratwice, on 10/12/2007, -35/+103Poor guy picked the wrong direction from the start.
Dude was the gadget master and he didn't have a gps system?
On another note, his family's car was on the road for 5+ days before anyone found them, ON THE ROAD! He even called called when on the way to the lodge when they were 5 hours away, who ever he talked to at the lodge should get beat down for not reporting this to the police sooner. - Dolomite, on 10/12/2007, -7/+73If this tragic story teaches us anything... just stay with your vehicle... help will eventually come.. and you have a better chance of being spotted with the vehicle.
- spazoidspam, on 10/12/2007, -3/+64@nicabar
One of the things that makes us human is the ability to empathize with people in a situation similar to our own. James Kim was a guy just like many of us here on digg, he was a man in his 30s, he was a gadget freak, and he had a wife and two children. I can easily see myself in the same situation in a few years, but I cannot place myself in the same situation of people dying in Iraq, or Darfur. It doesn't mean that their deaths are any less important, but the Kims' story hits home at a level that they cannot. - themarq, on 10/12/2007, -12/+63Man, I was very saddened to hear about Mr. Kim's death. He must have been disoriented to have wandered off the road like that.
I can't imagine how desperate he must have been to leave the car and his family after a week stranded. Survival training typically dictates that you should never leave the crash site. I guess now isn't the time for recriminations, just so sad. - Tripper44, on 10/12/2007, -14/+61OMG he went almost in a circle, that makes it seem even worse :(
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -6/+49"Too bad it was in a circle."
That's what doesn't make any sense to me. He was on high ground where the car was, then walked a ridge line all the way back. Had he taken the road the other direction it would have taken him right to the lodge.
I realize it's easy to be an arm chair survivalist, but leaving the road or car without a compass and map in that country is suicide. I would have day-hiked the road in both directions, leaving a sign or note for searchers, then coming back to the car at night. And why weren't they building signal fires every day? They could burn tires (which I think was a mistake), there had to be downed trees and branches out there. They had gas in the car tank to start fires. Build a big fire, use the car to fashion a make-shift shelter, heat rocks with the fire at night and spend your spare time trying to dig the car out and foraging for food. Instead he idles off all his gas and wanders off in the wilderness.
Just because it was an heroic effort he made, and it was, doesn't mean it was smart. - Hydroxyl, on 10/12/2007, -3/+45@negativefx:
There was a road, but notice on the first page that...
He took a left and went into the forest, and it's a hefty looking forest and in the winter time could definately create lots of complications. - skibybadoowap, on 10/12/2007, -4/+43I have been following the story of James and sympathy with his family in a vacation that turned very wrong.
If you are ever caught in a situation like this the first thing you should do is light a fire and stay were you are. If someone is looking for you, they will follow a trail of smoke much easier then looking in a wintery wilderness.
Rip James. - rusackas, on 10/12/2007, -2/+41@brewer: I think, given the circumstances, I'd go ahead and break in. They can press charges later if they wish.
- muaddib420, on 10/12/2007, -5/+44that's not a road, it's a ravine, i believe.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -6/+44He walked a damned long way. I didn't realize how far he'd gotten. Too bad it was in a circle.
- OmniMe, on 10/12/2007, -4/+41I can't believe how far he traveled. It's a shame to see "Black Bar Lodge" so close in the opposite direction. He probably didn't know it was there because they hadn't passed it yet. The reports said he walked in the direction they had already drove.
Unreal - shelle, on 10/12/2007, -3/+37For those who ask why he left the road (including myself): on the Today show they reported that there were bear tracks following his tracks along the road, and they believe this is why he went into the forest (and possibly into the small waterway they reported he waded in for a distance, to not leave a scent?)
- Eazy~e, on 10/12/2007, -9/+39Wow man. That takes some balls. Go to his memorial and say that. Please, it's only fair to the rest of us.
- JacNet, on 10/12/2007, -6/+35It is quite hard to imagine all of those green dots being a huge tree, the length at which he walked is astonishing.
- SteelChicken, on 10/12/2007, -4/+33you can see how easy it is to get disoriented. he basically didn't go very far at all.
safety was so close....if he had went the right direction. - flinx, on 10/12/2007, -3/+32Those of you saying "let it die" and "this is too much detail" etc. are missing a key point.
We should be studying what went wrong and what mistakes he made. We may never be in the exact same situation, but we could be in a similar situation. You can learn a great deal from the details. His death, while tragic, may save someones life. - rockefeller, on 10/12/2007, -14/+42"He probably didn't know it was there because they hadn't passed it yet."
Probably? Well, I'd be willing to bet that he DIDN'T know it was there, because if he did know it was there, HE WOULD HAVE ***** WENT THERE!!!!!! - ShrimpCrackers, on 10/12/2007, -18/+45I'm torn up about this all week. Now I think its time to take action:
EXAMPLE:
I remember watching a show in which a yuppie was decked out with survival gear and all this equipment, (compass, map, spare clothes, all these rations, water) to compete with a knowledgeable survivalist with little more than the clothing on his back. The goal was to make it to a place a dozen miles away. Obviously the yuppie didn't make it (he went the wrong direction despite the compass and map and eventually wore out and they had to stop it) while the man with knowledge got there within a day.
CONCLUSION:
What this shows is that with knowledge, one can survive, even with the lack of tools!
SOLUTION:
I think it wouldn't be much to introduce a bill that requires dealerships to have a simple $5-$10 survival booklet in every glove compartment. Its not that expensive! It could have really saved a lot of lives, from Katrina to any number of disasters. Knowledge first, then applying that knowledge with the available tools is what can save lives. Plus it helps pass the time if you're stuck.
In this instance it would've helped James, he picked some berries for his children but they all worried if they were poisonous. A simple $5 North American survival book will tell you what berries you can eat and what to avoid. Knowledge really was the difference between life and death here. At the very least, buy one and put it in the car, its the first step to preventing more tragedies like this! - axiomflash, on 10/12/2007, -8/+35go into google earth and look at all the roads though. i was looking last night for an hour assuming i was reading the map wrong. these are the most confusing multiplied roads ive ever seen, and i imagine that 99/100 are forestry service roads used only by the logging industry during the summer. i do this kind of backwoodsing all the time, and i would be lost in a heartbeat here even with a map.
- Dogtanian, on 10/12/2007, -0/+25He'd stayed with the car for a number of days, only when things became seriously dangerous for his family did he decide to go and seek help. You do what the manual says until the last possible moment, then, if that's failed you have to make a last desperate effort. Brave guy, hopefully most of us would do the same thing when it came to the crunch.
"Paradoxical Undressing" The final stage of hypothermia, when victims become convinced that they're burning up, and take their clothes off. The guy was suffering.
Man does what he can to save the lives of his loved ones and gets a load of grief from faceless wasters on the internet, even in death. Good job fella. - leobaby, on 10/12/2007, -9/+33You don't need my permission to move on; or do you. Here you go...
Go ahead and ***** move on.
Go do something else and let these people express their grief and compassion. They clearly don't need your help. - ShrimpCrackers, on 10/12/2007, -2/+26I thought about it, and decided to take action now. As we all know, James Kim would have fared better, even lived, had they had just basic survival knowledge. One simple bit of knowledge; such as what berries to eat and what to avoid would have helped them cope longer. Starvation clouds the mind and surely didn't help him and his family.
So, I've begun a wetpaint wiki thats intended to end up as a free 20 page printable emergency survival guide in (PDF, Word, etc) that you can just stuff in your glove compartment.
I hope you guys will work with me in searching for reliable sources and condensing a simple emergency guide book that will prevent some of the thousands of American deaths due to exposure each year.
http://survivalguide.wetpaint.com - tdave365, on 10/12/2007, -1/+25He seemed to be making a point of making his way DOWN the mountain, so while it was a circle, it wasn't entirely in unexplainable vain. To him he was working his way downward for whatever value.
(reposted to place properly) - jparkinson, on 10/12/2007, -0/+22I think the saddest part about these posts is the complete and utter ignorance being displayed by some of you people. Some of the ***** you have said is beyond even the most insensitive ***** i've met in my life. You should be ashamed of yourselves, you gutless *****.
A man died and you have the nerve to say some of the things you have, you're pathetic and the fact that you use an anonymous internet forum as your soapbox shows how cowardly you really are.
R.I.P James
(that was directed at all the people saying horrible thoughtless things, not anyone actually discussing the matter, positively or not so much.. at least some of the naysayers show some tact) - 3rdcoast, on 10/12/2007, -8/+28bad choice or not, he walked hella far in a unforgiving environment.
- OmniMe, on 10/12/2007, -5/+2499.999% of use are voyeurs in this. It's intriguing to see what happened and what could of happened. It's much the same as "rubber necking" on the highway while passing an accident. You can't help it.
Aside from the small percentage of a-holes who took the time to register an account here and poke fun at all of this, we feel sympathy for the Kim family. - Jaymoon, on 10/12/2007, -1/+20Thank you spazoidspam... Was just about to post a similar response.
This situation could have happened to anyone, and was very unexpected. I had heard of the story when they had first been reported missing. At the time, nobody had a clue what had even happened to them. Only when we discovered that they had car troubles and were stuck in the middle of nowhere that people began to focus on the reality of the situation.
His so called "celebrity" had nothing to do with it. Every news report on TV/Radio I heard covering the story never mentioned anything about his job at CNET, or past employment at TechTV. It seems as though only news sites "in the industry" mentioned this.
The reason this situation is so disturbing in my mind, is because even though I had never met the guy or his family, and only saw him on TechTV a couple times (years ago), it's almost as if I did know him. I have no idea what the situation is when a child dies in Darfur, but when a man and his family is trapped in the middle of snowy terrain about 200 miles from where I live, yeah, that kind of gets to me more. - Paul, on 10/12/2007, -0/+19Wow if he would have gone the other way he would have hit Black Bar Lodge before he even got cold.
So Sad. - NYC10004, on 10/12/2007, -1/+20In that cold, 1 mile is hellish, but Ten?!
Through his efforts James Kim gained my respect, not just as a techie, but as man!
And thats comming from ex-military. - trer, on 10/12/2007, -10/+28To all those people who post negative messages:
If you "don't care" about James Kim, why do you even take the time to post? No one is making you read the stories. Obviously, a lot of people feel for Mr. Kim and his family, so let them feel the way they want to feel. Who are you to come and tell these people to "move on"?
If you don't care, that's your perogative. But don't put down others who do care. - CalipsoII, on 10/12/2007, -5/+21@negativefx
I shouldn't even bother doing this legwork for you, but I will anyways. From the sfgate.com story 4 down this page (http://digg.com/gadgets/PILOT_HAD_HUNCH_It_led_him_to_wife_kids).
"The footprints he had spotted were 5 miles from the Kims' stranded Saab station wagon, about where James Kim turned into a creek ravine where his body eventually was found."
By the time the search effort had even REACHED the Kim's approximate location (keep in mind the same story points out that the rest of the helicopters were searching farther away at the coast) he had already walked down the road and turned off into the bush. Kind of hard to find someone on the road when they aren't even on there anymore. - Mylonite, on 10/12/2007, -0/+17Right, because after being stuck in your car with no provisions, your wife breastfeeding your baby and four year old, and burning tires so you don't all die, you wouldn't be feeling the least bit desperate.
I'm not saying he made the right choice - though it's been noted that his footprints got his family saved - but I think that seven days of wondering if you're going to have to watch your children die is pushing the limits. Should the players who hiked out of the Andes have stayed with the plane instead? - brewer, on 10/12/2007, -5/+22hunchback: "Look how close he was to the Lodge! Heartbreaking."
Lodge is closed and boarded up in the winter (roads are closed). Unless he broke in, it wouldn't have done it much good. - klawz, on 10/12/2007, -2/+18Maybe this type of information can help others in the future, did you ever thnk if it in that way? I for one have had survival training, but others have not, and maybe they'll learn something from the path laid out - something about don't leave the site unless you know damn sure where you are heading - if you look at it in this light, there is a use for it, other than the "rubber necking" that you think everyone is doing here.
- kwaddell, on 10/12/2007, -1/+17I heard earlier today he may have left the road out of fear from bears.
Bear footprints were found on the road very near his own.
Also his footprints were the first thing spotted by the helicopter and eventually led the search team to his family. So all of his effort was not in vein. He actually played a major part in the rescue of his family, its really just a shame he died in the process.
RIP - dmron, on 10/12/2007, -1/+17The amount of hate and ignorance showcased in this thread is amazing. Not caring about the story is one thing, but saying nasty things about a man who ultimately died trying to save his family is disgusting.
He may have not made the "right" decision by leaving the car, but understand that he DID wait around for SEVEN DAYS before making the decision to take matters into his hands. After 7 days of being stranded in the freezing cold with basically no food or water, along with his wife and infant children, you have to understand how desperate he must have been. At that point it's gotta seem like do or die.
Take into account this other fact. According to this article:
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/12/07/PILOT.TMP
the helicopter who found the family car was lead on the right path because they first found his foot prints. Of course, they still might have found the car in time anyways, but take that into consideration before saying he made a bad decision. While he died for what he did, it helped get rescuers to his family that much faster. Who knows what would have happened otherwise.
Secondly, I've seen comments "Ohh so close to where they were going!" or "why didnt just they go back to the lodge?" Hello - read the story, then comment. They were NOT headed towards the lodge in the pictures, nor did they even know it was there. They had taken a wrong turn 15 miles earlier and were lost on logging roads. The lodge was in front of them, not behind them. Kim made the correct decision to go BACK the way they had come, as opposed to going forward and having no idea where it would lead. Going forward would have lead to a better outcome, obviously, but there is NO way he could have known that!
Third, many people are saying "why did he leave the road? stupid!" There is no way for us to know why. You could very well have made the same decision, you do not know the circumstances. Some reports are saying that bear tracks were found near the point he left the road, so that is one possibility. Another is that he was in the freezing cold snow up in the mountains, and going DOWN is a good way to get away from that. Google Earth tells me that he went down over 2000 feet eleveation from where he left the road to where he was found. (2700 feet vs 700 feet). And GE also shows that it was at a point right before a 200 foot elevation gain in the road. Imagine how tired he must have been. Going downhill takes a LOT less energy than going up. And he ended up following a river, which is smart in my opinion. Rivers eventually lead to civilization.
Anyway, please try to understand the situation more before making rude and/or ignorant comments. It's really sad to read through this thread. - SlashNot, on 10/12/2007, -7/+23Rooster, He was an editor at CNET, not a movie star. His fame was very limited. So you cant say thats why so many people went looking.
- FastEddieG, on 10/12/2007, -1/+17http://www.kdrv.com/content/contentID/15190
"Rachor volunteered his time and his helicopter on the search. He says he didn't ask if he could help, he just decided to do it. After flying over the area for two days he came across James Kim's footprints, and those eventually led him to the family's car."
If he didn't leave, would there be footprints to track back to the family's car? How much longer could they have survived in the car? A lot of questions, a lot of whatifs, no answers.
But the point remains, the helicopter pilot that found the family's car, did so because of James Kim's footprints. - ptaylor, on 10/12/2007, -7/+23@ atlacali & SuperSimon
It's called "lessons learned."
This is how humans learn from events, especially when tragic. Bet you don't know or give a flying fyck what today is, huh?
Taking a look at the pics, he almost completed a circle. He didn't know much about surviving in the wilderness, but I see that he was man enough and realized he had to do something instead of stay at the car. I respect him that much. You guys probably would've been the last to get out of the car for anything, even to create fires or flag an aircraft.
Tragedies like this brings awareness to folks about surviving in the wilderness, who may have not really cared because they feel they would never had been in such a situation. I'm sure Kim never would've though that he would've died like that on his vacation with his family.
Get what I'm saying? - kaje, on 10/12/2007, -0/+13So he travels in the wrong direction and goes a long distance, ends up going back in almost the same way he came and dies that close to the car. And the entire time, the car was not very far from the lodge. This just makes me sick to my stomach. =(
- AhrenBa, on 10/12/2007, -5/+19Wow, that is amazing that someone can walk that far, on barely any food/provisions. I just wish the outcome would have been different...
RIP James... - AdamWeeden, on 10/12/2007, -1/+14@mccarron
It was not open, but searchers said that they had searched it multiple times, considering it was the best available shelter nearby. - tungsai, on 10/12/2007, -2/+14Perhaps it can save lives in the future.
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