Hopefully I'm wrong but it doesn't sound great for this missing family. The couple and four little kids have been missing for 24 hours now, and the temps reportedly have been down under -20 F. No mention of what supplies they were carrying or how they were dressed. If they stayed with their Jeep and had warm clothing this will might just be a story to they tell about a close call. Hopefully they were prepared for an overnight stay.

Yeah, seriously not good. Which Jeep models do wheelies or doughnuts with four kids? That's the kind of play you do when losing your only vehicle is not a big deal because you don't have 4 kids along relying on your good judgment. Two nights out now... Dad will have gone for help and ...

Another article with a bit more info: Bitter Cold, Snow Hamper Search for Missing Family in Nevada Mountains

This is the point where media reports are taken with a pinch of salt. I woud read that as "Someone thought they saw a car of similar model and color" ...

Fox News is reporting that the family has been found safe; no details reported yet.

I hope so, can't find any information.

Just about one minute ago MSN has posted a story that says they have been found safe!

Good news, but still not much detail.

Couple, four children missing in Nevada found safe in canyon

A bit more info:
Missing Nevada couple, 4 children found safe
Some other reports indicate that the searchers got a few pings from the couple's cell phones, which may have helped narrow the search area.

It will be interesting when more detailed accounts emerge of their survival and the search for them.

I wonder what year the jeep was? Lojack, OnStar by default?

OnStar is GM isn't it? Is it available on Jeep vehicles?

Regarding that grain of salt, the report of the wheelies and donuts has a bit more credibility now; wonder what happened that induced a rollover... stuff happens.

Stuff does happen and this is the reason to carry extra gear, especially if your idea of fun in the snow includes taking risks with your primary means of transportation. Food, water, blankets, signaling gear, et al.

But all's well that ends well and this is about as good an outcome as we could expect.

Thanks AKSAR, a lot more detail in that link. Grand Cherokee makes the wheelies and donuts unlikely. The embankment was probably obscured under the snow so this could have happened to just about anybody. You just have to be ready when bad stuff happens. So much could have turned really bad here but it didn't. They all walked away.

i read that the first responder there gave them a candy bar he happened to have along.i would have thought the SAR folks would have a small pack with lots of odds and ends.
anyway good work by everyone involved,the family most of all.

It's not a lot of details but an MSN story is reporting that:

Machado said the couple had not brought food or water with them on the outing, but used a spare tire as a container for a fire made from brush and wood they could find.

Chris Montes, a rescuer who first spotted the vehicle, told NBC affiliate KRNV that Glanton had built a fire so that he could heat rocks and bring them into the Jeep to keep the family warm.

It sounds like they were pretty lucky to have escaped relatively unscathed. They rolled the Jeep and none were injured, then had no food, water or warm clothing and had to spend a couple nights out there. With respect it appears they were pretty foolish- unless the story has some serious factual errors it appears they were woefully unprepared, to the point of recklessness.

I think its called "I have 4 wheel drive so I'm invincible" syndrome. Very poor planning, especially with young kids in tow. Glad they got out okay.

The story really shows some contradictions. No doubt they went off unprepared and seem to have made some foolish decisions along the way. Yet, after the jeep rolled, the Dad made some very good decisions and came up with an innovative solution.

One story says that they were "only" 4 miles away from "civilization." I can really envision the temptation to try to "go for help." But he made the right decision and stayed put.

He also built a fire, using the spare tire to support the fire and heat rocks, which he transferred into the car. Another good move.

We tend to focus (properly) on planning, equipment and preparation, but the most important thing is keeping your head and making good decisions and making innovative use of what you do have.

Now, all we need to do is get this guy on board with us and get him a proper kit for his jeep. . . and to do some prior planning!

The thing I would have done differently, (having the luxury of learning from their ordeal) as the weather was cold enough to be dangerous, and especially since there were small children, would be travel in two vehicles. Lots of other gear would be nice, but this wouldn't have been in the news if there was a backup method of travel.


My sister in law did geological surveying solo in Eastern Nevada in a big ole 4x4. She carried all he gear, two spares, tire patch and pump kit, signaling, cell and radio, water, food, etc. But beside the company gear, she threw her Mtn bike in the back.

Yeah, well that Jeep will be in the shop for a while, assuming they can get a truck up there to haul it out. That said, a kit is a must have for peeps off playing in the snow with or without kids. Preventing serious issues is much better than amelioration.

Edit: Just saw this covered on Fox News and the Jeep Grand Cherokee was back on its feet. Maybe they can drive it out. Incredible that the windows stayed intact during a rollover.

Rollovers can be surprisingly "gentle" when they don't occur on asphalt. I was in a rollover once (passenger) and the truck I was riding in was able to drive away once righted.

They had the ability to make a fire, which clearly made a significant difference, as it so often does. What intrigues me is how much media attention this fairly routine operation received. I think this is mostly because of the young children who were involved. had it been a bunch of 17-25 year old males, we would have never heard of them.

Today I read an article describing how they survived because of "some smart moves". Um, well...I guess they were dumb enough to get into that situation totally unprepared but smart enough to survive it? Obviously they were also very lucky; the manner in which they were found was a stroke of dumb luck. Obviously I'm glad they're okay- but hopefully they'll plan a little better next time.

I'd bet you $5 dollars that one or both the adults were smokers (of tobacco or...something else). As woefully unprepared as they otherwise seemed to be I imagine they at least had lighters.

actually it sounds like they were found not so much by luck but rather by a very well organized and well done search. One of the accounts said they had a few cell phone pings, which helped narrow the search area. Apparently they were spotted almost simultaneously from a CAP plane and a ground searcher glassing the area.

Heard tell that CAP now has a "cell phone forensics" team. One of the things they did on this search was to target areas that did not have coverage.

Well, like we say in landnav: "two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do!"

Phaedrus, I won't take that bet, because you are most likely correct. I've seen that situation lots of times.

... or he pulled a road flare from the back of the Jeep and used that to start the fire ... nahh, their from the Reno, LV area and probably carry a lighter and a spare, or books of matches in the console, or they just used the cigarrette they were already smoking.

Regardless, paraphrasing the FoxNews talking head, "starting a fire outside the Jeep to heat rocks to bring them into the Jeep was GENIUS" That last word is a quote.

Cell phones are now ubiquitous, and cell phone data is fast becoming a standard tool for search managers. You will recall that a few stray cell pings played a controversial role in the famous Kim search in Oregon, back in late 2006.

Depending on the the phone and carrier, a cell phone might provide GPS coordinates directly to the location of the phone. Even in "no service" areas, the odd ping might be picked up by one or more towers, and tower sector (directional) info might be obtained which can provide a rough location. Using this information tgether with topography, GIS can be used to estimate where the signal could be comming from, and which areas are almost certainly masked by terrain (ie. where the signal could not have come from).

A search manager almost never has enough resources to thoroughly search everywhere. Thus the task is to deploy resources in the most likely areas first. Any tool, such as cell phones, that helps narrow down the search area is hugely beneficial to the search manager. Because of legal and privacy concerns, it is usually necessary to have law enforcement involved in order to get this data from cell service providers. The actual technical work may be done by specialty teams, such as from CAP.

Interesting. What is the best course of action for the distressed person with a cell phone? Should one attempt to climb to a higher elevation or stay put? Climbing higher will more widely broadcast the signal, but it might also widen the search area...It is pretty common to have more than one cell phone in a group. Keep them all on or shut down some for later?

To an old geezer more active back in the 70s and 80s, this is really transformative technology - with all kinds of possibilities.....

Well, the short answer is, as always, "it depends". I am by no stretch an expert on this stuff, but here are my thoughts.

Unless I'm going somewhere really remote, I now almost always carry my iphone when I'm out hiking. I will often turn it off, however. Partly that's an aesthetic choice, since one of the reasons I go out hiking is to get away from ringing phones and whatnot. Also, that saves the batteries for when and if I really need the phone. (If you have your phone on but are in a no service area, the phone will keep trying to ping a tower, which eats up batteries.) If I get in a jam, I can turn the phone on and try to get a signal.

In many cases I would think that in an emergency it would be advantageous to climb high and try to get a signal, provided one can do it safely, and not go too far. Partly this would depend on how likely you think it might be to get a signal. In many areas, just going a few hundred feet up onto a ridge might enable you to get a signal and make a call out. Around Anchorage, I find that if I can get somewhere where I can see the populated areas in the distance I can often get a signal. It is probably not a bad idea to do some experiments around your favorite areas where you like to hike, and see where you can get a cell signal, and where you can't. Then file that info in your mental memory banks for when you might need it.

Which brings up another point. Just recently I heard about some technology that is starting to become available. It seems there are now portable units which can be used to detect cell phones. My limited understanding is that they are small enough to be transported in a vehicle or by helicopter. If you are in an area with no cell coverage but your phone is turned on, SAR teams could fly the area with the unit in a helicopter, and pick up your phone pinging away looking for a tower, and home in it. So if you are in trouble and you think a SAR team might be looking for you, turn your phone on. (All the more reason to save your batteries for when you really need them!)

Yep, Cellphone data spying: It's not just the NSA The technology to find a cellphone in a remote area is out there, but it may not be active in the search & rescue business -- not that it couldn't necessarily be used in SAR. Then again, maybe they are using it but aren't making the capability known. You don't know what you don't know.

We've heard for some time about the CIA using cell phones to track terrorists and kill them with missles launched from drones. "Stingray" sounds about like what I heard described. I don't think it has filtered down too much into the SAR world yet, but I'm sure it will before too long. I have also heard that there has also been some experimentation with using drones for SAR. Technology is definately a two edged sword!

If I ever decide that I need to run from the law, I will try to remember to hide my cell phone on a bus going the opposite direction from where I'm headed!