Jay Honeck wrote:

but the unfortunate Mr. Kim apparently did not take
even the most basic precautions.

Happens to pilots a lot, too, I would surmise. How many pilots who fly
over the relatively smaller, yet just as remote and lethal mountains of the
eastern US carry survival gear?

Admittedly, I am not 100% there just yet myself, but I do carry a personal
locator beacon with GPS, a handheld GPS, space blanket, survival pack
(matches, signal mirror, whistle, etc), and a first-aid kit. I don't have
food and water at this point (not sure how to store it), nor do I have a
signal gun.

Regardless of the Monday morning arm-chair quarterbacking that no doubt is
going on around the newsgroups and chat rooms of the Internet, Mr. Kim had
a very difficult decision to make at that point. I cannot imagine what
that must have been like to be in that position and I have the utmost
respect for his attempt.

--
Peter