While I agree with most of your post, I must take issue with this. I carry all of those things in my vehicle year round (except for the snowmobile of course, and the snowshoes--which I am going to add asap). I could easily keep 4 people alive for 9 days under those conditions.

For the most part I too think they did well under the circumstances, but if we are to learn anything from this tragedy then we need to also identify their mistakes and discuss what could have been done to eliminate them. Hindsight is 20/20--that's why it is so useful.

The Missus thought the PLB was a relatively inexpensive purchase for the peace of mind. I think in view of the recent news coverage, your wife may be more amenable to a PLB purchase now more than ever again.

I couldn't get this tragedy out of my head last night. On the way to work this morning I kept thinking the same thing. Get the biggest fire going possible. With all that snow there is no chance of burning down the forrest so do whatever it takes to put out as much smoke as possible. So along with the shovel, kitty litter, etc. we should all have saw in the back of the car. Even the little saw on a Multi-Tool would have been able to cut off a lot of branches.

If that is your strategy make sure you order it now, because the shock & horror will wear off & the missus won't be so willing to fork over the $$$ down the road. It's like right after 9/11 the people in this country were willing to do whatever it took, but as time goes by we forget...

One of the guys who I work with used to work for Motorola. He said that the helicopter listening for the ping probably needed to stay very low to avoid other cell phone traffic - that they probably had to sweep back and forth through the ravines until they heard the ping, then they would need to triangulate the ping to determine the location.

I wonder if anyone in major tourist areas (Glacier National Park) would start a business renting out PLB's?

I'd like to know more about the tire buring bit.

How does one light a tire, 'specially if you are already out of gas? And how do you get heat from it? Sit around it like a campfire, trying to avoid the smoke, light it near an open door and try to heat the inside of the vehicle while somehow avoiding the smoke?

And, if the choppers were already looking for them when the tire burning went on, I wonder why the black smoke was not spotted...

Just for kicks, I went to ebay and checked the prices of PLB's. The lowest price shown is $545 (buy it now), plus $10 shipping. I will try to keep an eye on the costs to see if they go up...

I've read that a vehicle is a heat sink and if there's enough snow it's better to build a snow trench or build a shelter but you need the material like a collapsible shovel, two Evazote® foam pads and a winter sleeping bag and a small home made stove made of tea candles but it takes room and this is theoretical. (I'm not analysing or criticizing this scenario)

Frankie

Different situations call for different solutions. It's good that you go prepared for these emergencies, I know I carry a lot of stuff too, but I don't have a wife and kids to worry about, and I know when I go on a trip I have a higher chance of being in a situation like this. But we have to look at this from the perpective of a man with two kids going on a family vacation. First, what do you think was his probability of getting in that situation, and two, what would a rational person have done under the same circumstances?

Number one. if he was your friend, and came to talk to you before the trip, what would you have said his chances were of getting stuck for 9 days? I know people say now that it's obvious, that there was a very high risk, but if you were to think about it before he left, what do you really think his chances were?. If you think about it objectively, millions of people travel under the same conditions and risk everyday, and millions of them make it through without a problem. Even if there was a 1% chance of them getting stuck in the snow, would you think they would be there for 9 days? .01%? .00001%? Would you recommend spending $600 for a PLB knowing the chances of using it are slim to none? Let's not forget that he was not out there to explore the backcountry and did not purposely set out to find a really remote area, he was on a family vacation and was simply trying to get from one place to another.

Also, under the same conditions, what would a rational person be expected to carry? Again, we have to remember that he's from San Francisco, where it NEVER snows. So should he have gone out to buy all new winter gear + $600 PLB, for the remote chance that he would possibly need it? Again, I'm thinking from the point of view of before he left for his trip, not knowing what we know now. But let's assume he goes skiing in Tahoe, so maybe they do have some winter gear. He's on a family vacation with 2 little kids, just out to visit relatives. I know very well the type of car he was driving in, and I know there isn't much storage space. After 2 strollers for the kids, and the kids diaper bag, I'm surprised if he had room for maybe one bag for he and his wife, let alone any survival stuff and bulky winter clothes. I have a larger car than he had, and I know even on a short weekend camping trip for only 2 people, I could fill it up to the roof and still not feel completely prepared.

Around my area, tens of millions of people travel to Vegas every year, and any one of them has the possibility of getting stuck in the desert for a week. Should they all carry a weeks worth of water for a carload of people, some 40-80 gallons? If they get stuck, then yes, it seems obvious that the possibility was there, so they should have prepared for it. But most people weigh the cost and/or convienence vs. risk, and carry nothing more than a cellphone and wallet. It is hard to justify the reasoning behind preparing for something that has a very low probability of happening. It's like trying to convince someone from the midwest to buy earthquake insurance, or someone in California to buy hurricane insurance. You look at the probability, and compare that with the cost, and it just doesn't make sense from a rational point of view.

I look at all this as an unfortunate accident, nothing more. I don't consider him reckless, I don't think he took uneccessary chances, and I don't think there was a whole lot more he could have done under the circumstances. A lot of people are saying how all this could have been avoided if only he had done this, or not done that. Techinically, they're right. IF he hadn't gotten lost, IF he had more equipment for him and his family, IF he had checked the weather or IF he had just stayed at home, then he'd still be alive. But saying this could have been avoided is like saying you can avoid ALL car accidents by being careful. IF you always leave enough space for the car in front of you, IF you always check both ways before crossing the intersection, IF you stay away from other cars and never leave the house. Like I said, you can never be prepared for every scenario, no matter what you do, no matter how well you prepare, sometimes things happen and you get caught up in a situation like this. I find it ironic that if this were Les Stroud and his family in this same situation, people would probably be commenting on how good he was to be able to keep his family alive for so long with so little, and how brave he was to go and try and find help for his family. I doubt people would be saying he had no business being out there, as they are saying about James.

I would like to see Doug or someone else do an analysis or review of this situation. But rather than giving the already obvious advice of he should have had a PLB, he should have had a GPS, he should have left an itinerary (I think all those have been covered pretty well), I'd rather see it from a layman's point of view. Had he been carrying a small, basic, survival kit, what could he have done? Because I look at the stuff I carry, and the situation he was in, and i don't know if any of my stuff would have given him an advantage. They had a lighter, they had enough food to keep them alive, they had water, My tarp and knife wouldn't be much help considering they had shelter and fire, nobody was injured so the first aid kit wouldn't be of much help. Better clothes and shoes MAY have helped, but it might have just given him reason to walk out earlier. He may have been able to go farther with better equipment, but how would that have helped? It could have just gotten him further away from the car and futher from rescue. About the only thing that I carry that I think would have significantly helped them is, I carry tire chains. I'm wondering if they had the same. I know they had an AWD station wagon, but that's still no substitute for tire chains in the snow, no matter what the marketing guys say.

Even without any high-tech tools (which I think are awesome) or even some basic tools they had the survival game beat.

1. Had the shelter of the car to keep them out of the wind & dry. Plus the heat of 4 human bodies huddled together under whatever clothing, etc. thrown on top.

2. All the water they needed from melting snow over the fire that they had.

All they were lacking was some basic food calories to keep them alive long enough for help to arrive. If they had had that he wouldn't have been under the pressure to try to hike out.

A 6 pound jar of peanut butter ($6.42 at Sam's Club) and a couple boxes of Ritz Crackers would have bought them a couple more weeks. 16,000 calories in the peanut butter & 4,480 calories from the two boxes of crackers would have given them 1,462 calories a day if rationed out over 14 days. I would have given the breast feeding mother a little more than myself & the older daughter.

The father & older daughter could have easily gone an additional 14 days on top of that without any food as long as they could stay warm & drink enough water. I'm not sure on the baby & nursing mother?

I'm not against PLB, GPS, etc. on the technology. And all for a good signal fire. But some very cheap food calories would have saved his life very easily. IMO

The mountain men used to hole up all winter long as long as they had enough food to get them through.