https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/man-sp...ass/ar-BB1drdrg

Another instance of the value of having a map to go along with your GPS, or maybe just disregarding the GPS

A classic tale! I can't imagine that someone that lives in that area would fail to understand that not all roads are maintained for winter travel. Hell, I'm a transplant from the Midwest and I'm smart to enough to avoid "backroads" here in the mountains!

But I'll give the guy credit for not losing his head. He cut wood, made a fire, melted water, ate some canned beans! However I'm not crazy about the lazy journalism. The story mentioned that he was desperate since he was "out of rations", failing to mention that you don't perish 12 hours after your last meal. Granted you don't want to be stuck back there forever but as long as he could keep a fire stoked up and melt water, he could've lasted at least another month! Glad they rescued him though!

Great share, thanks!

Sure, this fellow made a mistake (it's easy to do, and who hasn't). But instead of succumbing to the usual "cascade failure" of additional mistakes that leads to a fatality, he had basic gear and the skills to use it, kept hydrated and warm, took small non-suicidal forays from his camp, got his communications online, and made it out requiring nothing more than a raft of cheeseburgers.

Nicely done sir! I believe we should award an honourary ETS membership.

Hmm...snowstorm shuts down the highway. Seems like a great idea to seek a smaller road. Not!
Surely the snowstorm hits a larger area than just the highway and other roads too are snowed in.

Many years back I found myself unknowingly driving on a interstate in Iowa that was closed due to a snow storm. I was all by myself, and never saw any closed gates or signs.

In hindsight I should have tried to find a hotel along the way, and continued the next day. Being before cell phones, that could have been easier said than done.

I'll 100% agree that moving from a closed major highway to small backcountry roads during a major snow event is a bad bad idea, especially considering he was driving a camper.

It somewhat depends on what the "smaller" road really is.

During 14 years of commuting 100 mi/day in Colorado and listening to the police scanner for situational awareness I learned that the interstate gets first treatment for snowplows however it's also where bad drivers and semis go to crash in large numbers.

A secondary highway (US designation) may get nearly as good plowing from the county and far less pressure from crash dummies.

Anything less than a US-type highway would be a bad bet and the more remote from towns where the snowplows originate from the worse.

In my Jeep I often made it 50 miles thru blizzards and floods to be at the office when people who lived 3 miles away couldn't make it. (I treated it as a challenge while they likely saw an opportunity.....)