A California man missing for 11 days in the snowy mountains of the Oregon Coast Range was found dead Wednesday, four days after he set out alone in the cold wilderness to seek help for his stranded family.

Anyone else follow this story?

Seen it on the news here and there.
What about it?

Seen it on the news here and there.
What about it?

How difficult is it to hike 16 miles in sneakers in the snow in Oregon, where he was found? Was he right to set out? Could he have done anything else?

Pointless I know, but I was hoping he would be alive when they found him.

I've heard that despite the fact that he died, his mission was successful as it was his footprints that led rescuers to the car his family was in.

How difficult is it to hike 16 miles in sneakers in the snow in Oregon, where he was found? Was he right to set out? Could he have done anything else?

Pointless I know, but I was hoping he would be alive when they found him.

In the same situation, I would get up and walk out. I wouldn't risk sitting around and hoping someone finds me.

The problem is not so much a matter of snow and mountainous terrain, but of the cold and the inadequate preperation for it and the building of shelter.

There is a rule of three of wilderness survival in the cold:

3 hours without shelter.
3 days without water.
3 weeks without food.

How difficult is it to hike 16 miles in sneakers in the snow in Oregon, where was he found?

Not really sure.
Probably not too hard, really. If you knew the area that is. Which he probably didn't...
Don't know where he was found. Haven't followed the story closely enough. Just blurbs on the news is all.

Was he and the family out getting a christmas tree? Or am I confusing him with someone else? The past few weeks, there've been lots of people getting stranded in the woods around here. Out doing the christmas tree thing and getting lost and snowed in and whatnot.

Was he right to set out?

Obviously not since his family was found and rescued while he died.
However, hindsight is 20/20.

I'd have done the same thing, I suppose.
You can't just sit and accept death. Especially when you have a family to protect.

Could he have done anything else?

Not really.
He could have stayed in the car.
That's about the two choices.

Pointless I know, but I was hoping he would be alive when they found him.

Happens all the time. Like I said, lots of people have been lost in the woods the past few weeks. But, I think he's the only one that died that I've heard of.

Roll of the dice, basically.

Roll of the dice, basically.

Sad. Seems he did save his family though. The rescue helicopter pilot followed his footprints back to the car.

There you go then.
He made the right choice after all.
That is, if he valued the lives of his wife and child more than his own. This is not necessarily a given. But it is likely.

Edit:
Although.
Are you sure about that? It seems kinda fishy. That the chopper could follow the footprints to the car but not to him. He wasn't found until some two days later, yes?
I suppose his footprints were probably on the road before he decided to take a cross country route? I think I heard that he left the road, yes?
If he hadn't, then perhaps he'd have been found.
Leaving the road was a very poor decision considering he didn't know the area.

There you go then.
He made the right choice after all.
That is, if he valued the lives of his wife and child more than his own. This is not necessarily a given. But it is likely.

Edit:
Although.
Are you sure about that? It seems kinda fishy. That the chopper could follow the footprints to the car but not to him. He wasn't found until some two days later, yes?
I suppose his footprints were probably on the road before he decided to take a cross country route? I think I heard that he left the road, yes?
If he hadn't, then perhaps he'd have been found.
Leaving the road was a very poor decision considering he didn't know the area.

I don't think he made a conscious decision to leave the road. It was all under snow and it was dark, so might have been lost. Hard to tell in retrospect. As for the footprints, they must have followed back because he was hard to locate.