[Paddlewise] James Kim search

Hi Brad,

Last year, I saw an account of the rescue of a senior citizen Inuit 
hunter by several young Inuit men that went searching for the 
overdue hunter. The hunter had gone out on a snowmobile. For 
reasons I don't remember, the hunter got stuck far out in the tundra 
in heavy snow. There were carabou heards in the area. 

After a time the rescue party found the abandoned snowmobile and 
tracks leading away from it. They tracked the old man but then lost 
the tracks in the blowing snow. they lost the tracks in the confused 
areas where the heards of carabou had passed through. 

Each time they lost the tracks, they set out making larger and 
larger circles around the last known track until they again found the 
hunter's tracks. After a long time and many lost and found tracks, 
they found the old man entirely disabled and near dead in the 
snow. 

They put the man in a sleeping bag along with three of the 
rescuers. They hauled them all back to a village on their 
snowmobiles. The hunter survived thanks to the stunning 
determination and skill of the young men that went searching for 
him.

--------

I expect that Mr. Kim will be found somewhere not too far from 
where his pants were found. I believe the only way to find him alive 
would be a search conducted along the lines used by the Inuit 
searchers. It would likely require many searchers radiating out and 
in constant communication with one another. Using dogs? I don't 
know how dogs do at tracking in snow. 

Chuck Sutherland
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