NEED TO KNOW
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When Kati Kim and her husband James set out on a road trip in 2006, they had planned to enjoy a Thanksgiving holiday with their two daughters
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But the couple took a wrong turn and found themselves snowbound
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What happened next set off a nine-day ordeal that ended in tragedy
When Kati Kim and her husband James set out on a road trip in 2006, it was to enjoy a Thanksgiving holiday with their two daughters — Penelope, 4, and Sabine, 7 months. But when disaster struck, their trip took a tragic turn.
Kati, then 30, and James, 35, had spent the holiday with family in Seattle, and began their journey back to their home in San Francisco on the evening of Nov. 25. They had pre-planned a stop-over at a lodge in Gold Beach, Oregon.
But when a fierce coastal storm began to rage after they left dinner at around 9 p.m., they missed a turn off the highway and ended up on a local route — one that’s “nearly impassible in the winter,” as explained in a PEOPLE magazine story in 2006.
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The couple had attempted to drive over the mountain range in their 2005 Saab station wagon, but heavy snow required that they turned back and head toward a lower elevation. Confronted with rain that made it difficult to see, they parked the car to rest for the night. By the next morning, they were snowbound.
For three days they stayed in the car, using the heater to keep warm until the gas and batteries died. After that, they burned the car’s tires to create heat.
They ate what they had on hand in the car — baby food and Cheez Whiz — with James supplementing his diet with wild berries, which he ultimately stopped eating for fear that they could be poisonous.
Carlos Avila Gonzalez/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty
Sgt. Jeff Proulx of the Oregon State Police looks at a map during the search and rescue operation
By the morning of Dec. 2, James had decided to get help. He set out at 7:45 a.m. telling Kati he would be back by 1 p.m. But James, an experienced camper who left wearing a jacket, two pairs of pants, sweater and sneakers, never came back.
Kati’s mom, Sandy, told PEOPLE at the time that her daughter’s primary concern “was with the children.” She stayed in the car even when James didn’t arrive back, fearing she would be too weak to carry the children along.
Kati did make several attempts to call for help — calls that ultimately helped authorities triangulate the family’s whereabouts.
On Dec. 4, using a helicopter over the peaks of the Oregon Coast Range, rescuers suddenly saw Kati waving an open umbrella on which she had affixed reflective tape spelling out “SOS.” The rescue operation had become the largest to date in Oregon’s history.
The nine-day ordeal was over — ending in tragedy for James, whose body was later found by rescuers some 20 miles away from the car, in a canyon, and recovered via a line.
Carlos Avila Gonzalez/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty
the search and rescue operation
Kati and the girls, meanwhile, were surprisingly healthy despite the circumstances, with Brian Anderson, undersheriff of Josephine County, telling PEOPLE: “They did a good job. They are in remarkable shape for spending nine days out in the wilderness in this type weather.”
“The fact that they were found is miraculous,” offered San Francisco police Angela Martin. “She was that smart to save her babies and herself.”
James was also remembered as a hero for rationing food, prioritizing the children over himself, and for setting up a camp for the family with blankets and bottled water.
As his friend Jason Zemlicka told PEOPLE in 2006, prior to James’ body being discovered: “He’s an insanely dedicated father and husband. He’s strong in tough situations — he’ll do whatever he can to make you feel better … He would do anything for his family.”
Read the original article on People
