The Oregonian has crushed the S.F. Chronicle on the Bear Camp Road tragedy. I guess it’s their story; geography is huge. Check out the Oregonian’s aerial tour of the roads the Kims went up till their car foundered. And there’s a .pdf map showing how close they were to Black Bar Lodge, stocked with food.
The shocker is Outside magazine’s site. A story that millions are following, and Outside has nothing on it. I’m disappointed.
Memo to editors: when will someone do the high-tech angle? James Kim worked for a high-tech company, but high-tech failed his family disastrously. They disappeared on Saturday 11/25. Josephine County, Ore., authorities didn’t track a “ping” from the Kim’s cell phone to Bear Camp Road for another week, Dec. 2. Egad. On TV they do that kind of thing inside of 15 minutes.
Meantime, Richard Silverstein was unable to post his response to my last re the Kims’ AWD vehicle. I’m posting it for him (and commenters, we’re working on the problems, sorry):
I don’t think that was really fair Phil. Today’s NYT notes that they took a wrong term in the mtns. Considering the awful conditions at the time, I’m sure it’s something any of us could/would do.
4,000 feet isn’t that high an elevation for western mtns. They made a terrible mistake clearly. But mainly, they should’ve stayed in the car no matter what; and they should’ve stocked the car with proper gear & supplies considering they were traveling through mtns. in winter.
We cityslickers here in the west live near these mtns. & so become familiar & comfortable w. them. But we don’t realize that when you IN them, they can be forbidding, punishing places.
