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Kati Kim's life-saving ingenuity

The story of the missing Kim family finally took at least one promising turn yesterday afternoon when Kati Kim and her and James Kim’ two daughters were found alive and in amazingly good condition after surviving for 9 days of exposure in what the Chronicle describes as snowy “wilderness.”

We prattle on quite a lot here about what amounts to “how to put your pants on faster” tricks that can make you more theoretically productive. But, when it comes to real-life life hacking, this woman takes the cake.

I swear, if my family and I are ever in a situation like the Kims went through, I hope to God that one person in our group has the clear thinking, make-do ingenuity, and life-saving cleverness of Kati Kim:

They ran the heater in their station wagon until the car was out of gas, then burned all the tires in a desperate attempt to keep warm. When the food ran out, Kati Kim breastfed her two young daughters to keep them alive.

Hope was running low for the Kim family nine days after they became stranded in the snowy mountains of southwestern Oregon while making their way toward home in San Francisco. Then, at 1:45 p.m. Monday, Kim spotted a helicopter her family had hired to help in the search. She waved an umbrella on which she had taped reflective striping, and soon she and the girls were saved.

I honestly can’t imagine I’d ever have the ability to hold it together for nine days in the wilderness — let alone have the presence of mind to find reflective tape and put it on an umbrella. Man. Go, Kati.

I’m sure you all join me in sending good thoughts toward the Kim family as everyone holds their breath and hopes for James’s safe location and rescue as soon as possible. A website has been set up to assist in finding James, and there’s an email address on that page where you can send good wishes to the family.

[link and quote via BB]


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Dave's picture

They would have never found...

They would have never found anybody if James father didn’t hire his own 3 helicopter…!

Tetsuo's picture

Jesus Bruno, way to be...

Jesus Bruno, way to be a complete putz. If you hate the concept of this site so much, why are you even reading it, let alone posting comments on it? And the least you could’ve done was, you know, actually read the post that started this. Toolbox.

Marc's picture

Humm 9 days for searchers...

Humm 9 days for searchers to find a car 15 miles from where it should have been on a turnoff that had accidentialy been taken before. Figuring that they didn’t start looking untill the family was missing for 4 days that is about 3 miles a day, must have been the worlds slowest helicopter

Jonathan's picture

Truly Inspiring. Thanks for...

Truly Inspiring. Thanks for posting this, Merlin.

Teri Pittman's picture

I have a friend who...

I have a friend who was stuck up in the mountains in Oregon for 8 days. Was in the snow and accidentally went off on a side road. She walked out. They’d given up the search for her and she finally decided the only way out was to save herself. I’ve been lost in the woods myself (not during winter thankfully) and walked about 20 miles to get out. It is a very scary experience and it’s easy to lose your head.

My favorite story was from a few months back, where a family got stuck in their motorhome with the grandparents and kids along for the ride. Dad was a survivalist and had bug-out bags packed in the motorhome. They left the kids with the grandparents after waiting several days for rescue and walked out to find help. I hope the survival stories like this will encourage folks to put a few extra items in the car during winter. You never know when something like this could happen to you.

Christy's picture

Not to mention breastfeeding both...

Not to mention breastfeeding both girls so they could survive. Thank goodness for biology!

Tammy's picture

I'm so glad you wrote...

I’m so glad you wrote about this! My husband and I heard the story on CNN this morning and had a pretty similar conversation. It’s always both stunning (in a good way) and inspiring when a person overcomes truly dire circumstances in the clever and strong way she did.

If you’re interested in more such stories, there’s a terrific book about it, Deep Survival by Laurence Gonzalez. I wrote a post about it last year.

Andrew Anderson's picture

I'm very glad three-quarters of...

I’m very glad three-quarters of the Kims, at least, are alive. I hope Mr. Kim will be found alive and well.

That said, if anyone reading this ever finds themselves in like circumstances, DO NOT run the heater to keep warm — at least, not without cracking a window. Running the heater requires turning on the car and running the engine. If your tailpipe gets blocked by drifting snow, the carbon monoxide from the engine will back up into the car and kill you.

There are a number of other survival hacks that can be done with cars in dire emergencies. If people are interested, I’ll run through a few.

Andy's picture

This is the perfect situation...

This is the perfect situation where live data in Google Earth would be great.

All your fans plus the TWIT fans plus anyone else who would want to pitch in could be scouring high res satellite images for any signs of James.

Allen's picture

Excellent news!! I hope...

Excellent news!! I hope they find Mr. Kim very soon.

BTW, this may have come in handy… of course one could have always forgotten it at home on the night-stand: http://www.breitling.com/orbiter/breit97/eng/emerg.html

About Merlin Mann

Merlin Mann's picture

Bio

Merlin Mann is an independent writer, speaker, and broadcaster. He’s best known for being the guy who started the website you’re reading right now. He lives in San Francisco, does lots of public speaking, and helps make cool things like You Look Nice Today. Also? He looks like this, answers questions, and has something like a life.

Merlin’s favorite thing he’s written recently is a short essay called, “Better.”

 
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