Quote:
most people are not thinking of spending a week out in the wilderness while on a family vacation, so to say he didn't have an axe, food for a week, winter clothes, 4 season tent, showshoes, snowmobile, etc.., is being a little too critical (from some other forum's comments I've seen). It's easy to say what we would bring if we were in that situation knowing what we would know now, but how much stuff would people actually take on vacation with them, especially with all of the normal stuff for 2 little kids in a small station wagon? Either way, I would NOT say he was completely UNPREPARED for travel. How many people here think they could keep a family of 4 alive for that length of time with what they normally carry?

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.