April 8, 2023

RCSAR received a page to assist a skier with a knee injury on North Walton Peak on Rabbit Ears Pass. Four team members were dispatched into the field on snowmobiles and reached the injured party within 90 minutes. The team readied the patient for transport and then transported her to a waiting ambulance.

May 21, 2023



The Routt County Sheriff’s Office requested RCSAR’s assistance with a search for a party who had been missing for several weeks. The search area encompassed a large ranch outside of Steamboat Springs and areas between the ranch and the city. Due to the length of time the individual had been missing, RCSAR requested assistance from dog teams in the state. Teams from Larimer County SAR and Front Range Rescue Dogs joined RCSAR team members for the search on May 21st. Shortly after deploying in the field, one of the dog teams located the deceased individual.

June 17, 2023 

RCSAR received a page for an injured dirt biker on the Muddy Slide trail in South Routt County. The dirt biker had a serious leg injury, and his riding partner rode down the trail to get cell service to call for help. The Oak Creek Fire Protection District also responded to the scene, bringing its wildland firefighter module to help clear a significant amount of deadfall on the trail. Oak Creek Fire reached the injured party first and began providing medical care. RCSAR and Classic Air Medical arrived at the trailhead around the same time. Then five RCSAR team members along with a Classic Air Medical paramedic and a flight nurse traveled to the patient on ATVs. The teams worked together to ready the patient for transport to the waiting helicopter. All team members were out of the field just after midnight.  

July 11, 2023



RCSAR was paged for an emergent rescue of a teenager who had rolled an ATV near Dumont Lake on Rabbit Ears Pass. The teen rolled 100 feet down a steep embankment and suffered multiple injuries. RCSAR responded with a hasty team of five team members and two paramedics from Steamboat Springs Fire met the team at the trailhead. The Classic Air Medical helicopter responded with a flight nurse and paramedic that were first on scene and initiated advanced medical care. 

RCSAR assisted with loading the patient in a stokes basket for transport to the helicopter and set up a belay system for the low angle raise (see RFR article below for training for technical ropes operations such as this). A second RCSAR team arrived at the scene as the teen was brought back up to the trail where the team secured him to an ATV for transport to the waiting helicopter. 

The teen was in critical medical condition due to multiple fractures and unknown internal injuries. Classic Air Medical transported the teen to a hospital in Denver. Assistance was also provided by CPW, RCSO, and the USFS. RCSAR Team Leader John Williams said there was exceptional coordination between the multiple responding agencies and perfect timing every step of the way to get the teen to the hospital as quickly as possible. The teen's father asked that everyone “Donate to Routt County Search and Rescue and the local fire departments so they can continue to do life-saving work.”  

Don’t Be Dumb - Designate An Emergency Contact! 

The most important person in your party is the one who stays in-town. If this puzzles you, imagine spending night after night in the wilderness because you are injured and didn’t tell anyone where to start looking for you. Below is advice from the Colorado Search and Rescue Association on what information you should be sharing with your in-town designated emergency contact.

CSRA - In-Town Designated Emergency Contact

What if you’re just heading out for a short hour or two adventure on backcountry trails known to you? Remember accidents and mishaps can happen anywhere and at any time, and many occur when people head out on less than epic adventures. At a bare minimum, always let someone know what you’re doing, including the trailhead, activity, destination, and planned return time. RCSAR Incident Commander Harry Sandler recommends that you also always provide the following information, either to your in-town contact or in a note left in your car at the trailhead:  

• The route you plan to take
• A description of your clothing
• Your level of preparedness (i.e. whether prepared to spend the night out)
• The number of people in your group
• Any pertinent medical information
• What communications gear or radio channel you’re using, if applicable

Rigging For Rescue

Each year 10-13 RCSAR team members attend a technical ropework training hosted by Rigging for Rescue (RFR), a Ouray, Colorado based company. When RCSAR first started training with RFR, team members were sent to training locations in Southern Colorado, but after a few years, RCSAR began bringing a RFR trainer to Routt County. This allowed the team to train in places where we may actually have a rescue.  

RCSAR Incident Commander Russ Sanford, a 27-year veteran of the team, is RCSAR’s lead ropes expert. He has attended more than 10 RFR trainings over the years, and now assists with instruction of the course for RCSAR members. Sanford is able to provide oversight and direction specific to RCSAR and help develop consistent practices for the team. Sanford stresses the importance of the team receiving expert instruction regularly, as well as practicing often, because the team doesn’t do a lot of technical rope rescues. It sounds counter-intuitive, but Sanford explained that these types of rescues involve highly specialized skills and without regular training and practice the skills are perishable. For that reason, in addition to RFR training, the team sets aside one training per month to practice these skills.

This year the training took place on June 22-25 and 13 members attended, the majority of whom were female team members. The first day of training involved intensive classroom review of applied forces, material strengths, anchors, friction, mechanical advantages, and basic physics. The team also practiced anchor building outside of the RCSAR barn. Day two took place just off the Uranium Mine Trail at Blob Rock where the team worked on system rigging and operations for pickoffs. Pickoffs involve a team member descending a vertical face to rescue a stranded climber. Day three had the team doing a deep dive in the classroom on mechanical advantages before they headed out to the Mad Creek Trail for steep angle rigging and operation. The final day of training tied all the skills together for a complicated high angle, vertical lower and raise operation at the top of Fish Creek Falls.