Of course they made an error but they weren't trying to take chances from other things I've read. They didn't plan on taking the road they ended up on. In fact that road was supposed to be blocked by a gate but vandals broke the lock and the gate was wide open so they probably didn't see the gate so it didn't look like a closed road. They thought they were on a well traveled road, or at least not on a closed road. It's easy to lay blame and pass judgement.
Broken gate.
I hope the ones who broke the gate has a conscious and it torments them.
If I were guessing, I think the ones who broke the gate were more than likely snowmobile riders. We have this problem here in the mountains of Tn.. The National Forest gates the roads due to traffic misuse by users. The dirt and gravel roads will not hold up in the winter months due to freezing thawing of the earth. Traffic use destroys the roads and, this a great expense to the tax payers money that funds the National Forest Service.
It's easy to lay blame and pass judgement.
Not at all what I was doing. See my post #41. It's important to be clear about what the Kims could have done that might have saved James' life. Perhaps someone else might re-think their intention to do something similar, especially with two youngsters and a wife in the vehicle. This doesn't detract from his heroic effort to save his family.