An especially timely story given the James Kim situation

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003464419_websurvivor06.html

Bainbridge man survives nearly two weeks trapped in car near Mount Adams

By The Associated Press

Daryl Blake Jane of Bainbridge Island knew he was in trouble when his Jeep Cherokee became snowbound on a remote U.S. Forest Service road west of Mount Adams.

Jane, 37, rationed his small supply of water, rice cakes and banana chips and ran the engine for just seven minutes a day, enough to defrost the vehicle. He kept the snow from piling up on the vehicle and spent a lot of time meditating in his sleeping bag. When he ran out of food and water, he drank from puddles.

On Saturday, after being stranded for nearly two weeks and writing goodbye messages to friends and relatives, he was found by a snowmobile-aided search party and was rescued without even the loss of any fingers or toes to frostbite.

"Thankfully, he persevered," said Tim Wilkins, Jane's uncle and fellow resident of this island in Puget Sound west of Seattle. "He was very methodical. He knew exactly what to do to survive."

On Tuesday, with Jane still too exhausted to be interviewed, Wilkins described his nephew's ordeal to the Kitsap Sun.

Jane left on Nov. 18 to attend a "spiritual gathering" in Trout Lake, planning to return the next day to watch football with family.

When he didn't return and failed to appear for work two days later, a Monday, Wilkins went to authorities, but the investigation was slot to get started.

"We had nothing to prove where he was," Wilkins said.

The family obtained a list of about 30 people who attended the gathering, but none recalled seeing Jane, and an initial search around Trout lake proved fruitless.

Credit card receipts showed Jane had purchased a drum in Tacoma the day he left the island, apparently to use in a drum circle at the gathering, then bought groceries in Morton that afternoon.

That meant he was headed south toward Trout Lake through the Gifford Pinchot National Forest, and by Nov. 30 Wilkins said relatives had a "feeling" he was on Forest Road 23.

He said sheriff's deputies said the road already had been searched, but relatives were dubious and enlisted the aid of Jim Meslow of Packwood, who heads a snowmobile team called the "Drift Skippers."

On Saturday, two weeks after Jane headed for Trout Lake, they forged their way through snow as deep as seven feet and many downed trees to find Jane, exhausted and hungry but still alive, in his vehicle 33 miles along the lonely 57-mile road.

"No one could really believe it," Wilkins said. "I don't think anyone's ever lasted in freezing temperatures that long."

The family gained some important lessons from the experience, he said.

"We learned to appreciate every day and make the most we can out of every day," he said, "and also always let people know where you're going and the route you're going."

Yep, that second one is a biggie.

any new updates on the other guy that is lost?
i seen him on the news last night and they said they are confident they will find him.

Perhaps the timing of this story and the story about Mr. Kim and his family will help raise awareness more than either of them would apart. It's also very nice to see a positive example instead of just a sad one.

-john


PS: I'd also like to point out that he had a sleeping bag. This one item probably made a huge difference.

I'd be curious to hitch him to diagnostic devices when he's meditiating. Who here wants to bet he's pushed his metabolism half way into hibernation or better, and what he had was enough to keep him running.

Me, I'm stoked when I can think my pulse down ten beats in 60 seconds, but there are people who have been documented as going to some ludicrously low physical states when meditating. It might not be that different from the state people go into when they go into super cold water and just shut off, but with an alarm clock.