Possible article of James Kim's clothing found in Oregon wilderness

With Kati and the Kim children safely recovered from the Oregon wilderness, the search has been on since yesterday with renewed vigor to find James Kim, the missing and much-missed senior editor at CNET. He left his family Saturday in search of help, and has been missing since. Today apparently trackers found a pair of jeans in the vicinity of the search which are thought to belong to James. It's yet unknown whether these do belong to James, but if so it's puzzling why he would have dropped or shed these pants in the bitter-cold Oregon outback. Apparently James left equipped with a heavy jacket, sweater, and a couple of lighters, although nothing was mentioned about spare pants. More as we get it.

Update: Oregon officials in a press conference this afternoon have stated their search is continuing; aside from the article found earlier today, supposedly another article has been spotted, although not yet recovered. The search is primarily taking place right now in the Big Windy Creek drainage area, which is five miles long, and roughly five miles away from the car site.

As we understand it, the National Guard is enroute for more searching tonight. Due to the terrain officials are still having trouble getting into at least one particular search area. When asked why he dropped into the ditch: "I don't know, I'm looking forward to asking him that personally. ... We're operating under the assumption that he is alive, and won't stop until we find him."
"This is frustrating, we are so close."
"We are treating this search like we are looking for one of our own family members."
"If I run out of resources I'll call for more help. But we want to stay away from private citizens volunteering."

[Cosmos @ Dec 5th 2006 7:17PM]

What red carpet treatment? Must be nice for who? He is not exactly in a position I or anyone else should be jealous of.

I know what your point is, but he is a well-known internet personality, and thus people who frequent the web are worried for him. Imagine if someone you knew was in this situation: you would be much more concerned about them then if it was someone who you had never heard of before.

[Daigan @ Dec 5th 2006 7:22PM]

John G,
Most counties which have wilderness areas that are frequented, will typically have a Search and resue team. Most of the time, this team is a volunteer organization.
S&R teams generally go out for anyone who gets lost. We just have an employer who is broadcasting what is happening here. Nothing else is special - They don't even have a helicopter.

[Chris Merchant @ Dec 5th 2006 8:27PM]

Honestly,

To us, James Kim is the CNet editor, but to everyone else, he's some guy that got lost in the middle of nowhere with his kids.

This certianly isn't celebrity treatment. If one of the EnGadget staffers got lost in a similar fashion, it would make news around here as well, but probably have the same little blurb on local and national news that anyone else does.

Believe me buddy- this isn't celebrity status. You'll know celebrity status when J-lo or Angelina Jolie goes missing (all the kids she adopts, she's bound to get lost along the way).

Bad taste, bad taste, I know.

Bad Chris.

[saboola @ Dec 5th 2006 11:17PM]

I don't think they have a position for "tasteless asshat". You should try G4.

[Mike @ Dec 5th 2006 6:10PM]

I really hope they find this guy :/

[TwinTurboMike @ Dec 6th 2006 2:12AM]

Perhaps this is a long shot, but considering they've narrowed down his location to a few square miles, would it be feasible to para-drop a bunch of economical 5-mile push-to-talk radios every few hundred feet with bright orange chutes and hope he sees/finds one of them? It certainly isn't impossible, and they surely aren't expensive. I say drop a few hundred of them and hope for the best. If this is feasible, someone should present the idea to the right people soon.

[jmbrowning @ Dec 6th 2006 4:07AM]

I'm praying that the Lord is watching over James and reunites him quickly with his wife and children.

Littering the National Forest with 500 milliwatt FRS radios,as suggested by TwinTurboMike, isn't the answer (as he probably still wouldn't be aware of his coordinates).

Kim's last write-up was on the Zune media player, the newest audio gadget selling this Christmas for $250. For the price of 2 Zunes, James could have purchased an inexpensive 406MHz Personal Locator Beacon like the MacMurdo FastFind. These PLB's have been available in the US since 2003 (mine is an ACR GyPSI with a manuf date of 5/2003).

With this paperback-sized gadget, James could have sent a distress signal when he got snowbound. This signal would have been detected by satellites and his 2 mile radius location transmitted to local Search and Rescue (SAR). SAR would then be able to localize with the direction-finding gear homing in on the beacon's 121.5 MHz signal.

In other words, Kati, James, Penelope and Sabine could have been having hot chocolate on November 26th with Josephine County Deputies instead of living this horrible situation today.

I hope Engadget and the other gadget blogs can increase awareness of these truly life-saving devices.

http://www.sarsat.noaa.gov/
http://equipped.com

[symphonik @ Dec 5th 2006 6:11PM]

"Hypothermia can kill in only 30 minutes. Cold temperature, but also strong wind causes the body to rapidly lose heat. You start to shiver in order to maintain body heat from the rapid muscular shaking.

If your body temperature drops to 35C/95F, you'll get dizzy and disoriented. Then the shivering stops. The body now maintains temperature only around the important organs; heart, brain and lungs by shutting down blood circulation to the arms and legs.

At 30C/86F, your pulse is weak and slow. Your blood vessels widen. ***Now, you feel hot and want to remove your clothes, finally slipping into unconsciousness.*** At 24C/75F your heartbeat stops. How fast you drop temperature will determine how rapidly you�ll parish. 30 minutes is more than enough!"

http://www.mounteverest.net/expguide/frostbite.htm

This does not sound good. :(

[Matt @ Dec 5th 2006 6:23PM]

Yeah way to make eveyone fell better...

[Ryck James @ Dec 5th 2006 7:10PM]

This doesn't seem very likely. They'd have found his body considering he wouldn't have been able to travel too far within that 30 mins. Also, realistically, I'm sure he would have taken off his jacket and or sweaters before taking off his pants.

[Mark @ Dec 5th 2006 6:17PM]

Agreed. Hate to be morbid, but jeans minus James means one of two things: Animals, or hypothermia. Both obviously very bad.

I hope and pray that he's alright.

[John Doe @ Dec 6th 2006 7:01PM]

Welcome to the real world; where life ain't a fricking movie and happily ever after almost never happens.

[GJP303 @ Dec 5th 2006 6:32PM]

As hard as it is, we all have to face the (possible) truth.

[Chris Merchant @ Dec 5th 2006 6:27PM]

Ha, way to make light.

Anywho- I concur with the hypothermia, some of the most serious cold I've ever felt gets to the point of making you feel 'warm' per-se. Where you want to remove articles, and the like.

Let's hope the preceeding hasn't happened to James.

Chris

[Mr. Fry @ Dec 5th 2006 6:27PM]

This doesn't sound good for Kim's family...I really hope by some miracle that they find him okay. And ScottMaximus, just...not the right thing to say. Damn.

[GJP303 @ Dec 5th 2006 6:29PM]

I hope so badly these aren't his jeans. @ symphonik: I really hope that isn't the case.

As hard as it is out there, i wish i was out there instead of him. I live in Michigan, and know, first hand, how cold it can get.

[LukeA @ Dec 5th 2006 8:00PM]

You guys in Michigan know to STAY WITH THE DAMN CAR, right?

Or to stay on the roads.

[Jon Reily @ Dec 5th 2006 6:48PM]

First rule: Stay with the car. I can't stress that enough.

Hoping for the best for James.

[wraith808 @ Dec 5th 2006 11:45PM]

Unfortunately, after nine days of waiting, I'm sure most people would feel they had to do something other than just waiting to die...

I hope they find him and that those were just spare jeans or not his...

[Billy @ Dec 6th 2006 1:53AM]

Whenever there is a missing person's case, it seems like they ALWAYS find the vehicle before the person, whether dead or alive. Stay with your vehicle no matter what. I know it would be hard to resist being a hero, but look at the past and understand that your chance of finding help before help finds your vehicle is basically 0%.

[FrankTheCrank @ Dec 5th 2006 6:53PM]

Man THIS SUCKS....It doesn't look good for Jim.

I hate to say it. But after 9 days...no food, sub-zero temperatures...my god.

[Mark @ Dec 5th 2006 7:16PM]

stay with the car? let's not forget he did stay with the car for 7 days.. with family inside (and infant child) after 7 days you have to do something.

maybe his pants just got wet and he got rid of them.
maybe they were an outer layer or somehting.
maybe they AREN'T his

discounting the animals theory since there's no mention of blood or damage to the clothing.

[Eric @ Dec 5th 2006 7:19PM]

Breaking news on Fox News Channel now. They think the pants were "possibly" an extra pair. There is another "item" that they're in the process of trying to recover now but they've determined the canyon is too dangerous to search at night and will be pulling back.

[kagai @ Dec 5th 2006 7:20PM]

Hypothermia is BAD!! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypothermia

What's the point of making jokes? It's just bad taste. Engadget would do well to disable comments on these types of posts.

[Loonie @ Dec 5th 2006 7:21PM]

C'mon, man. This story needs a happy ending.

[banzaimf @ Dec 5th 2006 7:28PM]

A couple weeks back, a miscellaneous person got lost up near Seattle. She waved down SAR Helo with a pair of bright yellow rain pants she had found.

As far as James getting more SAR effort because he is "famous"... I'd like to point out that the family has hired more helicopters to look for him that the local SAR effort. It makes the news in the small circle we are in, but not much more than a ripple to the rest of the world.

[tyler d @ Dec 5th 2006 7:28PM]

man wtf they need to find him. Me and all geeks are praying. Hopefully those were not his jeans and hopefully he has been able to make small fires to keep himself warm with those lighters.

[doofusboy9 @ Dec 5th 2006 7:34PM]

wow. i actually sorta knew this guy. i worked at cnet for teh summer. i didnt realyl get to know him but i knew who he was and i saw him around. i really hope hes okay. and whoever said "thats kinky" up there.. ur a douche bag.

[dennis @ Dec 5th 2006 7:37PM]

From what I can tell, he walked down the road for 2 to 3 miles, and he turned from the road, and his tracks went into a ravine with rough terrain. It seems like the pants, which were not the pants he was wearing, were found at the top of the ravine. He was supposed to return that afternoon if he didn't find help. So it would seem as if the pants were left by James very early in his trek. They are located where his tracks turn from the road. It is possible he left them there to mark the point at which he left the road. He was not expecting to be gone overnight and was planning on circling back to the car if necessary.

The search and rescue operations assume that they are in the right place because of the location of the pants. They have been searching the canyon from the top down and have landed a team by helicopter to one part of the canyon where there is a closed facility, but they are hoping to set up a camp at the bottom of the canyon and send a team up from the bottom. The National Guard is on their way to help with search operations tonight.

[ECM @ Dec 5th 2006 7:41PM]

Can someone please tell me what exactly put them in this position in the first place? All the reports I've read don't ever seem to comment on how exactly they found themselves in this situation to begin with.

[nVidiot @ Dec 5th 2006 7:48PM]

Very sad.

But it's also sad that he would put his family in such danger in the first place cavorting around on back roads in the snow.

[wraith808 @ Dec 5th 2006 11:44PM]

Cavorting? Didn't look like they were doing any such thing, other than trying to get home. Perhaps there needs to be a push now to make map places and gps makers more responsible for the directions they give. It would seem to be easy to do the exact same thing a real map does- highlight possibly dangerous portions. Or keep them out of the map database. It's really stupid that a simple disclaimer gets them out of responsiblity for things like this.

[Nick @ Dec 5th 2006 8:15PM]

That quote by symphonik makes you realize how badass the body really is at taking care of itself; cool stuff.

I really hope Jim's ok.

[Bobby Chapman @ Dec 5th 2006 8:19PM]

If he had multiple articles of clothing, he may have shed it due to hypothermia, or to mark a trail back to the car, or for anyone searching.
-Bobby

[Bill @ Dec 5th 2006 8:21PM]

To all those saying that he is getting "better" treatment because he is a celebrity, listen up.

I have been following this story for the past few days and happened to be watching some cable news this morning when they started talking about this. They mentioned that a man and his family had been lost in the wilderness, the wife and two children were found and the search was continuing for the man. No mention of name/"celebrity" status at all. They just showed a picture of him and then moved on.

[nVidiot @ Dec 5th 2006 8:24PM]

Yeah.. he's not a celebrity.. that is pretty hilarious to say that.

This story was "water cooler" talk at my work today and not a single person had a clue where he worked or who he was.

[Jorge @ Dec 5th 2006 8:40PM]

Scottmaximus,
theres a time to be funny and theres a time not to be. Nows the time not to be, you idiot.

[Zuke @ Dec 5th 2006 8:54PM]

@ECM - I read in one of these articles that it seems they turned down the wrong road, continued for a while, and got stuck. Before that, I was thinking they had probably slid off the road in the snow and crashed. I don't think you can put chains on those AWD Saabs (it's basically an upscaled Subaru WRX).

I'm impressed they improvised and thought to burn the tires for heat after the car ran out of gas. I pray they find James alive!

[ptrix @ Dec 5th 2006 9:01PM]

Dennis, that's pretty silly for so many reasons, some of which i'll describe to the best of my ability, because i think that would be important. you know, just in case...

In those temperatures, an extra pair of pants is a GOOD THING to have with you, just incase the pair you are wearing get wet or otherwise are no longer wearable, or if it gets really cold, you can put them on over the pair you are already wearing for extra insulation, expecially if you don't have much choice and have to sleep 'out there'. discarding them is plainly foolish, because by doing so, you're throwing away that extra bit of protection.

if he felt it was necessary to mark a trail, considering how thick the brush is, he could have broken some branches and arranged them on the ground in the shape of an arrow, or even just broken some every 15-25 feet as he went along (assuming he hadn't panicked, and was mentally alert/focused). any experienced tracker would be able to recognize and follow such a trail. Hell, a boyscout should be able to (do they still teach that skill?)

if he felt it was necessary to mark his trail more visibly, (which i could understand), he could have torn or cut the pants into strips, and tied them around branches. That way, you will be able to leave a "bread trail" behind you, as opposed to leaving an "all or nothing" indicator that you were once there, and which wouldn't do all too much to indicate your direction of travel after having dumped it (remember, even if you arrange the pants in the shape of an arrow, any number of things can alter it's shape, such as the wind, or even a curious animal). Unfortunately, it doesn't see that James carried a knife, or a pair of scissors, or any other kind of cutting instrument with him, so that limited his options.

A 3rd reason to NOT drop an extra piece of clothing, (at least, a whole article of clothing, anyway), is because he DID take some lighters with him, and in an emergency, that extraneous pair of jeans would have been a fast and easy material to start a fire with (to keep warm, signal, dry wet clothing, or to cook something). Those pants could have been a lifesaving emergency heat source, but now the best they have done was tell the rescuers that he had changed direction towards an unknown heading, minus one pair of Levi's.

As I've said in my post in the previous Kim story, I was not feeling optimistic earlier, and now after reading this, i feel even less so. I must admit, learning that he had the presence of mind to take an extra pair of pants with him gave me a bit of hope, but that was short-lived after reading shortly after about how such a great idea went awry because the additional opportunities and options that those pants could have provided was terribly wasted :(

I think that the resourcefulness of the entire Kim family in the earlier days of their ordeal, (especially that of Mrs. Kim), is highly commendable. When I read the previous article, i had been hoping that she was still lactating (because she has a 7month old child) and had been able to sustain her children by breastfeeding them, and that is precisely what she did. If that isn't resourceful, i don't know what is, but it's a shame that James gave in to desperation and decided to leave his family in search of� well, whatever there is to be found out in the wilderness. I just hope that he told his family how much he loved them for the last time before he walked away into the unknown. :(

Again, as before, I would like to reiterate how much i hope for the wife and children of the brave, (but foolish) Mr. Kim to have the strength to endure the next few days, as i feel they will need all the strength they can muster if they hear the worst about their husband and father. That's not to say that i'm not hoping for a miracle, but the bare reality and utter gravity of this situation did not, and does not lend itself to many optimistic thoughts, and frankly, i am expecting the worst. :(

[dennis @ Dec 5th 2006 9:44PM]

Ptrix, I didn't say that it was the best idea. Of course it's not a good idea to abandon your extra pair of pants as you leave the road and trek into a ravine. I'm not advocating doing those things. It's also possible he dropped those pants and didn't realize it at the time. Finally, it's possible that they're not his pants. This is not a lesson about what someone should or shouldn't do in this kind of situation, this is about a guy who actually is missing through a particular series of actual events, who left an actual trail that is being followed, and who people would like to be found.

My aim is to reconstruct some additional details that put together a coherent context about what may have happened, what the search and rescue operation is assuming and why by their own report, etc. Furthermore, there is no reason to assume that a man with a brain and a lighter with a two day head start down a canyon with a known terminus is dead just because you can't find him at first.

[kay @ Dec 5th 2006 9:10PM]

its either hypothermia, or eaten by a bear

both ends doesn't look good..

[Cas @ Dec 5th 2006 9:12PM]

"It makes the news in the small circle we are in, but not much more than a ripple to the rest of the world."
Here in Germany it was in the TV News this evening on quite every channel.

[Ian Jardine @ Dec 5th 2006 9:38PM]

I hope that James is found well.

This was getting coverage in a small portion of the internet. Now it IS headline news, because it's a remarkable survival story for his family.

It would seem that after many days James considered that there was a better prospect of their being discovered if he could find a road which was in use. It seems he ate very little, giving what food they had to his kids.

My I hope he is well. Good luck James.

[lowIQ @ Dec 5th 2006 9:38PM]

99% of the population has an average I.Q. of 117, 90% of the 99% has an I.Q. of 90 and below, Forest Gump character had an I.Q. of 70, It means 90 out of 100 people you meet are "Gumpish" we all seem to be surprised when people do and "SAY" "Stupid" things, Statistically its to be expected, we all would like to believe that 90% of people are smart but that�s just not true. Everywhere I go there is someone doing something stupid, on TV or on the road, it�s everywhere. The only ones who don�t know this are the "Stupid" people. I know it�s not "politically correct" and many of you will be upset by my statement, but it will not change the truth of it all.

[Chris @ Dec 5th 2006 9:55PM]

Maybe a bear got to him. Hope not. I loved that guy

[Dan @ Dec 5th 2006 9:55PM]

This better not be a stunt for the new iPod Wide/Touchscreen.

[Low IQ @ Dec 5th 2006 10:10PM]

Lets just all hope this man will be recovered safe and healthy and stop with the negative remarks, please read what you are saying before posting, unless you have no choice because you are part of the 90%,"Just think what this world would be like of everyone used common sense?"

[nivz @ Dec 5th 2006 10:11PM]

I honestly can't think what would have happened from what I've read so far.. as someone said, he couldn't have gone too far if something happened to him. So, although I don't know this guy and has never read a review he wrote (cuz i don't read that many reviews), I hope he's fine. BTW I'm pretty sure it's the same treatment as any other regular person would get if they go missing. Pretty sure most people didnt even know who he was until all this happened..

Anyways, I hope he's fine and will be found quickly.. :)

[Chris K. @ Dec 5th 2006 10:18PM]

I'm not sure where some people were getting sub zero temps from. The police officer yesterday holding the news conference said that temps at night were only in the 30s. While that is somewhat cold, that is entirely survivable in a coat and a pair of jeans. Most like he was leaving items so that it would be easier for rescuers to track him. You have to remember family said he was a pretty knowledgeable about the outdoors.

[scott berfield @ Dec 5th 2006 11:30PM]

I sincerely hope he is OK, but leaving the scene without survival gear was not a great idea. In the mountaineering classes I have taken, the rescue guys always stress staying at the scene. Fingers crossed for him.

Note to anyone driving in the mountains -- take the same precautions you would on a hike to the wilderness. Take the ten essentials(http://aditl.com/hike/gear/tenessentials.html).