Wilderness survival: The rule of threes

A SWAT officer is lowered by helicopter to the remote spot where James Kim's body was found.



I've discussed it with my colleagues. I've discussed it with my wife. So now I'm heading into the Rocky Mountains to find out what it is really like to be in the kinds of unbelievable conditions James and his family faced -- the freezing cold, the snow, the wilderness.



To prepare for this story, I've been interviewing experts about how to survive brutally cold conditions. They've told me about something call the rule of threes: You can survive for three hours without shelter You can survive for three days without water You can survive for three weeks without food So now I know. And now the rest of us know. If you have to make a choice between food, water and shelter from the cold, then shelter wins out in a big way.



But what happens when you become desperate? When you look into your wife's or kids' eyes and see desperation equal to or greater than your own?



The last thing I want to do is judge James Kim's actions. After all, none of us could ever imagine what must have been going through his mind after being in caught with his family in the Oregon snow, with nothing but wilderness around and seemingly no hope for rescue.



I now know he should have stayed. Tonight, in my report, as I trek into the Rocky Mountains and meet with some survival experts, I hope to show what we're all supposed to do if faced with similar conditions. Probably every one of us who has seen the tragic story out of Oregon has wondered what they would do if faced with same situation as James Kim and his family. I'm no different.I've discussed it with my colleagues. I've discussed it with my wife. So now I'm heading into the Rocky Mountains to find out what it is really like to be in the kinds of unbelievable conditions James and his family faced -- the freezing cold, the snow, the wilderness.To prepare for this story, I've been interviewing experts about how to survive brutally cold conditions. They've told me about something call the rule of threes:So now I know. And now the rest of us know. If you have to make a choice between food, water and shelter from the cold, then shelter wins out in a big way.But what happens when you become desperate? When you look into your wife's or kids' eyes and see desperation equal to or greater than your own?The last thing I want to do is judge James Kim's actions. After all, none of us could ever imagine what must have been going through his mind after being in caught with his family in the Oregon snow, with nothing but wilderness around and seemingly no hope for rescue.I now know he should have stayed. Tonight, in my report, as I trek into the Rocky Mountains and meet with some survival experts, I hope to show what we're all supposed to do if faced with similar conditions.