On the afternoon of August 22, the Mono County Sheriff SAR team was paged for an InReach activation from a climber who had become stranded after getting off route in the Mendenhall Couloir on Laurel Mountain near Mammoth Lakes, Calif. The Mendenhall is a complex alpine gully with loose rock, route-finding, exposure, and significant objective
For many years, trauma patients in the backcountry have had few options when there was concern for significant bleeding and developing hemorrhagic shock, but with a rapidly expanding use of whole blood by EMS agencies across the country, that is starting to change. Grand County Emergency Medical Services launched its prehospital blood program in July
This summer, I was involved in the search for a missing hiker in the American River Gorge. It was nearing the end of a long day of searching, with temperatures approaching 100 degrees. As I waited to pick up a search team, I suddenly heard a call over the radio from a team on the
Snow Rescues… in September The Pacific Northwest has already had two incidents with snow creating the need for a rescue in the backcountry. Snow at elevation in the fall isn’t unheard of, of course, but hikers can find themselves caught unaware of quick and dramatic changes in the weather. “Fall and spring are transition seasons,
155.160 is THE SAR radio frequency in the United States. It is on everybody’s ICS-217, and it is often associated with the MRA. In fact, it may even be labeled “MRA” in your radio. Allocating limited radio spectrum is a complicated issue that begins with licensing. The FCC grants licenses according to frequency, use, and
The MRA recently completed a newly plotted series of maps detailing the entire Mountain Rescue Association network of regions and teams. Seeing our regions plotted out really drives home the scale of the organization we are all a part of. The MRA is a national organization, encompassing nine regions that span two countries and 32 states.
Dear MRA Members,It is an honor to write to you for the first time as President of the Mountain Rescue Association. I want to start by thanking you for the trust you’ve placed in me, and by thanking Mark Miraglia for his dedicated service over the past two years during his term as President. Mark’s leadership
As small unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS) became more and more common in SAR throughout California, individual teams and agencies have been working hard in developing drone programs, training pilots, purchasing equipment, and gaining operational experience. Many teams have been producing impressive results with drones on missions by keeping SAR ground teams out of dangerous terrain
The 2026 MRA Conference took place in Juneau, Alaska June 12 – June 14, with pre-conference activities hosted earlier in the week. Co-hosted by Juneau Mountain Rescue and Alaska Mountain Rescue Group, the conference was an opportunity for members to spend time between the mountains and the sea expanding their SAR skills. The annual gathering
Tourniquets play a critical role in the control of bleeding, generally after failure of well-aimed, direct, firm, manual pressure and wound packing. Tourniquet lessons learned from the military battlefield are applicable to non-military wilderness and austere environments, given the delayed time to definitive care and often absence of higher-level medical professionals. Current knowledge refutes earlier
Rockie Talkie 2026 Awards Announced Rocky Talkie distributed $150,000 in grants to SAR teams in the U.S. and Canada, including several MRA teams. Since 2019, the company has been setting aside $2 from every radio it sells and using that to fund grants from teams that apply. In 2026, the company made grants ranging from
Search and rescue is changing. Satellite technology makes it easier to call for help, mapping software is available to facilitate route planning, and outdoor gear is lighter and better. But Instagram rewards stunts that put people at risk, or shows pretty picture spots that are out of the range of some hiker’s abilities, and some
Mount Baring, located on National Forest land in Washington state, is popular with base jumpers across the U.S. The mountain’s north face drops nearly vertically to a meadow below that features a small lake and open areas, enticing high-risk takers with a short hike from the parking lot to the 6,127-foot summit. Over the years,
Welcome Spring! Since the winter business meeting in February, your board has been parsing the data from the Mentimeter responses collected during the meeting. We solicited the membership for folks interested in drafting a strategic plan once all this data is listed by priority. If this is something you would like to be a part
When the Tahoe Nordic Search and Rescue team responded to the deadly avalanche in Lake Tahoe in February, they couldn’t have anticipated the wide-reaching impact it would have on the team. TNSAR responded, along with Nevada County’s Search and Rescue team, rescuing six survivors and later assisting with the recovery of nine deceased skiers, including
The 76th ICAR Assembly of Delegates was held in October 2025 on the final day of the annual ICAR conference, which was in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. It marked only the second time in ICAR history that the conference has been in the United States, according to the report from Tom Wood. All eight of the
Utah SAR Teams Paying Search and Rescue Members for Missions, Training Summit County (Utah) Search and Rescue is the latest Utah team to start compensating members for their work. Because of a new statewide tax for emergency services that went into effect last year, the county, which includes Park City, is working on a plan
As mountain rescue teams, we are all familiar with the management of accidental hypothermia. It involves a well-established series of activities, including rewarming the subject, providing calories and hydration, and removing the subject from the field. Rescuers typically provide whatever calories they have on hand, with a classic choice being hot cocoa and some sort
The MRA community, and the larger search and rescue community, is a special place and we are lucky that so many people work so hard at making it safe, welcoming and supportive. I see this locally when I get to work with other teams in California, and nationally when I get to reach out to
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
