Season’s Greetings. I hope everyone has had an enjoyable holiday. Now it’s back to the grind of our workaday world. Your board has been working on several projects over the last few months. We are looking into the feasibility of creating regional FEMA response teams. These teams would be made up of members from various
In 2022, MRA and Montrose Search and Rescue team member Mike Leum was asked to join a mission to the Ukraine to help a group of special needs orphans who had been abandoned because of the invasion by Russia. Jack Osborne, the son of rock star Ozzy Osbourne and acquaintance of Leum, was
As volunteer rescue professionals, we provide an essential public service and mission readiness that requires a great deal of training and personal preparations. Underpinning this capability is communications. One of the most important, yet often overlooked, aspects of communications is maintaining Federal Communications Commission (FCC) compliance to use the Mountain Rescue Association licensed frequency, 155.160
Wilderness medicine is basically what we all do as part of a MRA team. In keeping with this thought, I want to bring information to you that is relevant to what we do either with technical ropes and providing medical care in colder temperatures. Jørgen Melau published in his Substack under the title “Frozen
Stowe Mountain Rescue Tries to Teach, Warn Inexperienced Adventurers The Stowe Mountain Rescue team made headlines in December with a post about social media videos that were luring inexperienced skiers and snowboarders into backcountry locations that they were not prepared for and leading to an increase in rescue calls for the team. More recently, the
Sitting here in California hoping for snow, but mostly getting rain. I know the snow will come, but patience isn’t exactly my strong suit. Recent missions for my team have definitely required patience as we have had several searches this year with no find of our missing person. Most searchers find these to be the
Greetings fellow MRA Members, I hope all of you had a safe and enjoyable summer. As we head into the fall, the board has a few avenues that it is exploring. With the deployment of FEMA teams to recent disasters, the question has arisen as to whether the MRA might be able to create a
Crisis on Mount Hood: Stories from a Hundred Years of Mountain Rescue Ten years ago, when the Hood River Crag Rats turned 90 years old, we had a small celebration for the community. That spawned an idea in my brain. I was a writer before I was a doctor and a rescue mountaineer. I’d written
In Los Angeles County’s San Gabriel Mountains this past August, during a heat wave, a hiker who was out searching for a woman who has been missing since June 22 had to be rescued after falling ill on Mt. Waterman. L.A. County search teams, aided by other counties around the state, had already conducted more
Garmin Reports 2024 inReach Data Many SAR teams have noted the increasing frequency of satellite device activations precipitating callouts, and data from Garmin, which introduced the first inReach device in 2011, backs up that people who recreate in the outdoors are increasingly making use of the devices to call for help when they need it.
It’s been many years since I was in school, but fall has always brought me back to that feeling of starting a new journey. This year, I actually am returning to school for the first time in several decades, having enrolled in a writing program where I hope to marry my two passions – SAR
Fellow MRA Members, I want to thank the Marin County SAR members who made the Spring SAR Exercise such a successful event. It was a lovely venue with many different tracks of interest to all. I would have liked to clone myself to attend all the field and class sessions – which is why it
The 2025 Mountain Rescue Association (MRA) Annual Search and Rescue (SAR) Exercise took place June 12 – 15 in the headlands of Marin County, just a few miles from San Francisco’s iconic Golden Gate Bridge. Hosted by the Marin County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue team, this year’s event was held at NatureBridge Golden Gate, a
A simple call to transport a teen with severe depression turned into a pivotal moment early in my rescue career, during an ambulance ride-along that was required to get my EMT license. Most rescuers have moments that stand out, guiding future care decisions and even influencing shifts in life trajectory. This would be one of
In the mountains, we train for a lot—technical rope systems, backcountry trauma, avalanche rescue. But one of the most time-sensitive, high-stakes emergencies mountain rescuers face gets surprisingly little attention: drowning. It’s something SAR teams around the country have been dealing with a lot recently, from waterfall and lake drownings in the Lake Tahoe, California area,
Alpine Rescue Team’s Dramatic Mission on Torrey’s Peak after Lightning Strike Colorado’s Alpine Rescue Team had an audacious rescue in June on Torrey’s Peak when two hikers were caught in an unexpected storm and one was struck by lightning while on the phone with rescuers. “It was probably one of the more dramatic calls I’ve
As someone who enjoys learning new things and taking on new challenges, I have often taken classes or trainings or committed to a physical challenge to stretch my limits. I have been a journalist, a stay at home mom, a hospice volunteer, a retail employee, an EMT, and trained as a college counselor. I have
Greetings, I hope all of you were able to enjoy the winter season. We’ve had a very different winter in Alaska this year as our climate is definitely changing. At the winter business meeting we asked for suggestions on how the membership could become more engaged with the MRA. There were more than a dozen
Kate Patterson’s first SAR mission was the kind that search and rescue volunteers always hope for. A 71-year-old woman had been missing in remote Mendocino County, Calif., for several days. The terrain was steep and heavily vegetated. Overnight temperatures dipped down into the 40s for the two nights she was out. Patterson, a member of
The MRA Annual SAR Exercise 2025 will be held June 13 through through June 15. This year’s event will be hosted by the Marin County SAR team and will be held at NatureBridge Golden Gate, located in the scenic headlands of Marin County. The annual MRA SAR Exercise aims to advance the field of search
