On the story of the Kim Family stuck in the snow in Oregon.
I’m not going to assail him a hero or an very unthoughtful individual, though I lean towards the latter for some of the reasons our good man Rivrdog describes here. But even he must admit, 16 miles in the snow, at a maximum speed of 1.5mph, without proper gear, is a damn good feat (though one which ultimately killed him).
What I am going to do is try and just put my two-cents in and maybe let you know what I keep in my truck that would have helped in this emergency had I been as unfortunate enough to leave my head in San Francisco while wandering in unknown territory.
#1. Not continue on in a pig headed attempt against the elements. Even tracked arctic vehicles wouldn’t have made it to where James Kim wanted to go. Snowmobiles, maybe at 5mph and plenty of extra gas. After he went as far forward as he could and then tiurned around, he got to a point where it was slushy rain instead of snow and he stopped and parked the vehicle because he was low on gas. I absolutely do not understand this.
#2. Since I’d be cold and stuck, I’m starting a fire. Immediately. Screw Smokey the Bear. I’ve heard he’s a nice guy and all, but I’m not dying there. Also screw running my vehicle out of gas to keep warm. I’ll use one of the four quarts of oil I keep in the back to fire up some pine needles and bark, eventually leading into some good smoky green wood, if I had to. But I wouldn’t have to. Because I’ve got six packets of these in my truck. Sealed, they store just about forever and can almost be lit by a dry fart (or at least by the cigarette lighter in my cab), and will dry out anything enough for it to burn.
Buy a case. I bought two a decade ago.
I’ve read that they were able to start a small fire using magazines from the car. Later they were able to light their spare tire and even later than that, their four mounted tires. I have no idea how they got enough fuel to get synthetic rubber to burn, but why burn those when you’re surrounded by wood? And I’m not buying that the wood was frozen. It wasn’t that cold out.
I’ve got one of my double-bit axes in the back of the truck, I’m gonna get my body temp up playing Paul Bunyan. If need be, I’ll pull out the 8lb sledge to just knock the smaller ones over. If I’m feeling really energetic, we’re gonna have us a bonfire. Hell, if they still haven’t found my ass after two nights, I’m gonna find a lone tree and start the whole damn thing up. I’ll pay the ticket.
And I’d be killing some wildlife too. That is one of the reasons for a truck-rifle. No use going hungry when you have nature’s toaster oven handy. The Kims had young children so, of course, they had baby food and they rationed that. But protein is a neccessity and meat equals protein.
Its just that the more I hear about this story, albeit that it is a very sad one, the more I just want to tell all the crying/whiny types to STFU. They could have easily survived this and had a funny story to tell the relatives at Christmas.
Actually if you read the whole story, Mr. Kim had to struggle manfully for days to make the many , many mistakes necessary to end his life and nearly end his family’s. Mistake after mistake after mistake, some of which required serious physical effort. The story reads much like Jon-Jon Kennedy and his wife’s deaths.
Over-educated, filled with absolute self confidence, successful financially and socially, they were utterly confident that their superior attitude, a success path in a civilised scenario, would allow them to win what they considered an interesting challenge, rather than ending in death in a an arena where Mom Nature couldn’t possibly care less about an individual, his mate and their offspring.
When I was a yoot in my first Boy Scout uniform our troop borrowed a film from the Seattle Public Library entitled “The Mountains Don’t Care” dealing with exactly Mr. Kim’s and Mr. Kennedy’s reactions to a repidly deteriorating situation.
If you have crankcase oil, you can start a fire.
Period.
If you want to light up a tire, put it against a log first, and watch it all burn.
Californians vs. PNW Forest, 0 to 1
We had a local family get their RV stuck in a similar situation year before last … chainsaw + motor oil = huge permanent bonfire.
I have read and written about this guy. I feel sorry for him and his family. However, If you go out in the rural areas you need to be PREPARD. Have extra gas,food,maybe a CB, blankets. That sort of stuff. Other wise you will end up like this guy.
Prime example of why every car/truck you own should have atleast a small BOB, if not a large BOB (bug out bag(3days(1week in big) worth of food/water, and somehting to make fire with)