First, my heart goes out to James Kim's family. It's so sad to learn he lost his life to the mother nature when lost in Oregon's snow. (You can read some of the story Here).

I am not a tech person myself. I only read that the Kim's had 3 cellphones and 2 laptops with them. Cellphone signal was how the mom and kids got located after 9 days. Coincidentally, I read another article about "roving bug": how FBI taps turnoff cellphones. This got me thinking, "Can roving bug be used in this kind of scenario to find the missing persons in a much more timely manner? (I was assuming James Kim's cellphones are one of the modern models since he's the senior editor for CNET.)

Our fellow FTers are frequent warriors on the road, no matter what kind of transportation is being used. Some of our FTers are very tech knowledgeable. I am simply curious how far or how much can technology help us mankind in desperate situations like today's tragedy.

I am not an American. I am not even sure if Feds can be involved in this kind of search mission. I am sure "roving bug" will stir up discussion of privacy concerns. However, that's not why I start this thread. I want to hear from our fellow FTers how to be tech savvy when encountering the unexpected while on the road. I thought our Travel Technology Forum will be the perfect place to start my line of inquiry. If not, Mods, please move it to the proper forum. Thank you!

Just read a short article from Red Herring today. "Get Warm, Get Water, Get Found" are the advices, along with some tech items that will help.

"High-Tech Survival Gear

Reporter’s Notebook: Technology that can keep you alive.
December 8, 2006 by Sean Wolfe

The fate of James Kim, the CNET audio gadgets editor who died in an attempt to rescue himself, his wife, and two children gives any reporter in the technology industry second thoughts. Are we focusing too much on high technology that could save the world and not spending enough attention on companies developing innovative products that could save ourselves and our families?

Over the course of several years reporting on innovative businesses, this reporter has had the opportunity to encounter a variety of companies—many of them small, struggling along without the benefit of venture financing—that nonetheless have developed great products that are cheap, and potentially life-saving.

To that end, here’s a look at a few companies, their products, and applications.
(Read more from http://www.redherring.com/Article.aspx?a=20152)

I have all of those except the EPIRB. I also carry an aviation band transceiver and a 2m/440 dual band handi.

My Breitling Emergency would hopefully also help me if I ever ended up in this situation.

I didn't know these existed. Very interesting device, but kind of low on transmit power from the specs. Still amazing that they can put an EPIRB-like capability in a watch at all.

You must have bigger wrists than I