Searchers have found missing dad's body

I was rooting for the guy—depressing news. Condolences to his family, friends and his co-workers at our Metacritic parent.

James Kim was a senior editor covering digital audio who also co-hosted a weekly video podcast for the Crave gadgets blog. He had been writing a book on Microsoft's Zune MP3 player. Formerly, he was an on-air personality on the now-defunct cable television network TechTV. link

This message has been edited. Last edited by: hello world!,

great guy, neat family. BUT, why they took that road when they did is is , well I just cannot fathom their thinking. There were several other roads, much safer, to cut over to the coast. I guess they just... I don't know. So sad, so very sad.

quote:

Originally posted by rockthief:
great guy, neat family. BUT, why they took that road when they did is is , well I just cannot fathom their thinking. There were several other roads, much safer, to cut over to the coast. I guess they just... I don't know. So sad, so very sad.

Reportedly he missed a turn. After three miles they became stuck. I've been on road trips and said, "Nah, we'll be fine" before too. You don't think this could happen.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: hello world!,

So sad. Just two miles up the road on which they were stuck is Black Bar Lodge -opposite the way he tried to hike out. But, how could he have known?

And how could he have known help was on the way? A series of decisions were made with the best intentions and the worst possible outcomes.

I guess the reason I care about this at all is the fact it could be any number of us in this situation. The guy was an audiophile, a technology geek, a music lover, a writer, a critic, a husband, a father. How many people in the Music forums alone would that fit?

It's a good point, m.l.

I've been a long time reader of Kim's, so I've been following the story closely. It would be tragic happening to any family, but as m.l suggests, his personal profile is awfully similar to so many of ours.

Now Playing: The BBC's World Today Select podcast

I kept talking to hiim in my head - "Stay on the road and keep walking. Don't stop to rest, just keep walking. You will makeit".

I'd advise you stay away from some of the news blogs regarding the topic. People are pompous and cruel.

www.oregonlive.com

lots of accurate information. The video freaks me out. That country is wild and rugged! I cannot believe they took those roads, but believe it I must.

A personal note: I experienced hypothermia in February, 2001. A snow storm slammed an unsuspecting Philadelphia around noon on February 5 (or so), thanks in no small part to local meteorologists calling for "passing flurries."

I lived in a hilly part of the city, six miles from its downtown area. I was taking the bus—an accordion bus—to work everyday. I recall walking to Kibitz, a Jewish deli at 7th and Chestnut, with two friends at lunchtime when the half-dollar-sized flakes started to fall. Snow forecasts were changed from a "dusting" to upwards of nine inches, and business were shutting their doors early. Two hours later, the city was gridlocked.

We had just had some layoffs—woo! dot-com!—so we were only about 20-strong, and in a single room, when the CFO walked out and told us we should probably leave. Blank stares. A little joy. (I briefly considered sleeping at the office; it would have been my best option given the next several hours.)

So no car, and the buses on my route were either stuck on the hill up Ridge Avenue, six miles away—accordion buses are not particularly agile—or stuck in the gridlock in Center City. Queues for taxis were in the hours. Brilliantly, at 22, I think to myself, "Hell—I can walk it. 7 miles is nothing."

By the time I hit 8th Street, just two blocks away, a passing cab has drenched me with frigid water from a pothole. To complicate things, I suffer from cold urticaria, a rare condition that can exacerbate hypothermic conditions. (About.com article on cold urticaria: "…Cold water is the most common cause of a severe reaction. This can cause a massive release of histamine resulting in low blood pressure, fainting, shock, and even death.")

After another seven blocks, just under a mile, I feel completely and utterly wrecked. My hands are burning. I can't feel my feet. My back is spasming, stiff, and painful. I pop in a Starbucks for a cup to warm myself up, and the first thing I hear is, "Woah!...you OK?"

All right, so now I know I look as bad as I feel. The coffee, of course, does nothing (it can't dry wet clothes, evidently).

It's at least eight hours for my girlfriend to get downtown from the Northeast, just seven miles away. (A coworker told me it took her so long to get home that day she had to pee in a bottle in the car on more than one occasion.) My only option: the Double Tree on Broad Street.

$300 for a room. $300! To sleep six miles from my apartment! I dry my clothes on the heater and get under the covers. After a few hours I've mostly recovered.

The point? I walked just over a mile before the effects of hypothermia were too much for me to continue. Kim walked over 10 miles, soaking wet, in similar temperatures, in extremely hostile terrain, before he collapsed. People tend to exaggerate accomplishments of the deceased, but what he did was truly "superhuman".

wow, your's is quite the scary story. I am glad that you survived. I got drymouthed just reading what you wrote here.
My experience was that of running a marathon in gale conditions. It took hours of warm baths and many blankets and warm liquids to get me back from the brink. Never again.
Thanks for sharing your story M.Ieland.
I wish I knew why Kim followed the stream. Just a half mile more on the road and he would have hit the larger artery and would have found the hiking much much easier. I was not there, so I can only second guess his desperation.

Sad story. He was apparently found only a few miles from a building stocked with food, and the whole situation might not have happened if a broken lock on a gate hadn't been broken.

Could have been worse though, at least his wife and kids survived.

Normally, I don't follow this sort of news. People are dying every day, and I don't need to read up on something that's going to make me miserable. I hate the news for that reason, and Leland, you must feel the same way living in Philedelphia. So much violence that I'm actually emotionally detached from it.

That said, for some reason, this story struck a nerve with me. When I heard that he died, I almost cried, I was hoping for him so much. Just seemed like a really good person in a really unfortunate situation. I was really hoping for him. He obviously did everything in his power to make it and save his family. Many people, including myself, would likely have just layed down in the snow and died.

His motivation was inspirational, and all that more upsetting that he succumbed to the elements. Sad story, and a waste of a (seemingly) great person.