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Previously: The pants found were a second pair of pants James was carrying, and not the jeans James was last seen wearing -- so they were probably left as a trail marker. Press conference is underway.

There's a summary of the press conference at Guestbook entry 1733: One rescuer was injured today (non-life-threatening), and they're not going to send any more rescuers down to the ground level of the canyon tonight (it's too dangerous). However, there's one crew still out there, and they will be using heat-sensing equipment as long as they can tonight. They feel very close and expect that he's still alive. Also, there's no snow on the bottom of the canyon, and they've already checked a lodge that's nearby.

A Oregon news station is reporting that searchers have found what look to be James Kim's pants, and other personal effects. On the up side, looks like they're getting closer! On the down side -- why's he not wearing his pants? We're nervous!

Here's links to the chatboards that seem to have the most up-to-date info: jamesandkati.com, the Guestbook to jamesandkati.com, and the CNET article and commentary. Here's the Oregon state police semi-blog too, and the Chron's article.

They've traced about 6-7 miles of James's footprints in the snow. James has two lighters and a heavy jacket, but no hat on. Thermal equipment has detected two "hot spots" of possible body heat in the area, which will be checked out next.

Picture of the warning sign at the entrance of the road where the Kims were found. Previous updates for today after the jump.