What It’s Like Spending an Entire Day With Elite Alpine Rescue Pros

A few weeks ago, in early September, I got an email from POWDER’s former editor Matt Hansen with an invite I couldn’t ignore.

The world’s foremost alpine search and rescue pros were coming to Jackson Hole to learn from one another, and he asked if I would join in for a few days. Every year, the International Commission for Alpine Rescue (ICAR) hosts a gathering for all its constituents, and they were coming to my backyard. This is the biggest gathering of elite alpine rescue teams from around the world, AKA the world’s most badass science fair.

Teton County Search and Rescue (TCSAR) hosted this year’s event, with an outdoor practical day at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort (in tandem with Jackson Hole Ski Patrol) followed by several conference days at neighboring Snow King. Lucky for anyone living and recreating in the Tetons, TCSAR is one of the most elite search and rescue units in the United States, with their own specialty Airbus helicopter, a 40-member volunteer team, and enough generous funding to make rescues free within the county.

Not only does the world-class level of expertise at TCSAR set the unit apart, the fact that the team is entirely made of local volunteers is truly remarkable.

What I Saw:

Simply put, the work alpine rescue teams do is really f*cking badass. These men and women dedicate their lives to one of the most noble, but truly dangerous activities–getting you home when things go wrong.

ICAR hosted 123 teams from 41 countries, showcasing the massive breadth of international knowledge that gets shared amongst this vibrant community. No matter the language a team operates in, or their background, the goal is all the same: saving lives in the mountains.

The practical day started at the top of JHMR’s Bridger Gondola, with over 300 rescue professionals gathering for something we all need in the morning: a cup of coffee. Italians in tight blue Guardia di Finanza uniforms shared a morning cigarette with members of France’s PGHM (Chamonix’s professional rescue unit), while Carharrt-clad members of Utah’s Wasatch Search Rescue caught up with their stateside friends from Wyoming, Colorado, California and more. The energy was palpable, as folks swapped stories and checked in about recent missions. As breakfast wound down, all eyes turned skyward as TCSAR’s bright-red Airbus H125 helicopter came in for a landing at the top of the gondola, dropping off some final members of the local team.

Team members then split into groups based on their respective expertise and areas of interest, including everything from avalanche rescue (with demo stations from every avalanche beacon manufacturer), high-angle technical rescue, aerial and drone operations, medical, and rescue dog operations.

Rescue Gear Updates

I cycled through the avalanche rescue (AVACOM) stations, knowing that there would surely be some interesting things to see that relate to skiing, and I was not disappointed. Two major new products stood out: the electronic Pieps BT IProbe and a new pro-level beacon from Ortovox.

The Pieps BT IProbe (already on the market) is a specialized avalanche rescue probe that has a sensor in the tip that can receive the signal from an avalanche beacon, greatly reducing the time it takes to pinpoint a buried victim’s location, especially when used in a two-rescuer setup. One person performs a normal beacon search, with the other following closely with the IProbe until the fine search begins, then the prober takes the lead, probing in a zig-zag pattern in the direction the beacon was last traveling, following the probe’s audio signal. In several demonstrations, the Pieps team showed this method can cut beacon search times in half, meaning you can get to what’s important much faster: shoveling and digging out the buried victim.

The second product, which isn’t on the market quite yet, and Ortovox isn’t fully ready to talk about, is a new pro-level beacon called the Focus Pro that will closely match the performance of other pro beacons like the Pieps IPS Pro and Mammut Barryvox S2–with potential for up to a 80m search strip width and other clever pro features.

AIRCOM Demonstrations

Following the AVACOM session, I headed over to the AIRCOM sessions, where I watched a massive UAV drone pick up a heavily-loaded patient litter. Yes, drones can pick up people now. That was truly insane to see.

Finally, and perhaps most impressively, TCSAR demonstrated their expertise in helicopter short haul rescue. This is when the TCSAR heli inserts a rescuer into a hard-to-reach location (like the side of a cliff) by dangling them off the end of a rope below the helicopter. The rescuer can then attend to the patient and be picked back up (with the patient) via the same system, while the helicopter can hover or circle around at a safe distance.

For the demo, TCSAR’s short haul team flew a rescuer onto the JHMR Via Ferrata on a 100-foot-tall cliff band above the gondola’s top station to attend to a mock victim who was stuck there. The rescuer attached himself to an anchor on the cliff next to the patient, removed himself from the heli rope, packaged the patient for transport, and then re-attached himself and the patient to the waiting helicopter, which then flew away. The entire operation took less than 5 minutes.

TCSAR Short Haul Rescue Demo

A Few Things I Learned From The Pros:

Be As Prepared As You Can Possibly Be

Naturally, the first line of defense against things going wrong in the backcountry is proper planning, and sticking to that plan. You’ll never have to rely on what SAR can do if you never get into trouble in the first place. That being said, things happen to everyone. A small, seemingly harmless mistake can quickly lead to bigger problems, so being as prepared as possible when you head into the mountains is paramount. Here’s a few (extremely simple) things to consider that were discussed ad libitum at ICAR:

• Wear proper clothing. A huge number of rescues, particularly in winter, result from skiers or mountain travelers heading out without wearing proper attire. Even if it’s warm out while you’re skiing, it’s still winter, meaning you will get cold very quickly the second the sun goes away. This doesn’t mean to always dress warm, it just means to wear real ski clothing made of waterproof/breathable fabrics (not jeans and a cotton hoodie) and carry extra layers like a puffy jacket, even if you’re planning on only being out for a few hours.
• Carry avalanche rescue gear & know how to use it. The fact that people still head into the backcountry without an avalanche rescue kit absolutely blows my mind every time I see it. It’s like driving a car without a seatbelt, or crossing a busy intersection without looking both ways. There was not one statistic being mentioned at ICAR about how often avalanche rescues must be performed for victims who aren’t carrying a beacon, but it came very often, particularly in Europe. Almost all the buried victims involved in those situations sadly did not survive. If you or your ski partner are buried in an avalanche, it’s on you to dig them out using companion rescue techniques–any SAR teams, ski patrol, or other help you call will not arrive in time to pull out a living burial victim.
• Consider bringing overnight gear. While it’s not widely recommended in the United States, it’s actually quite common for recreational backcountry skiers in Europe to carry a bivouac kit or other overnight gear in their backpacks even for short day tours. Despite modern forecasting tools, weather and conditions can deteriorate suddenly in the mountains, meaning you might get stuck somewhere uncomfortable and have to spend the night. A small rescue tarp/sled or a dedicated bivouac sack and a small fire starter kit are all you need to create a suitable shelter to wait out a storm.
• Take a first aid course. Even with a helicopter, mountain rescue takes an extremely long time. It’s not like an ambulance can just drive up to wherever you need assistance–teams need to travel to your location (likely in adverse conditions) before they can render any assistance. Knowing some basic first aid skills can greatly increase your comfort level (and survival chances) while you wait. Staying current with a Wilderness First Responder (WFR) or Wilderness First Aid (WFA) curriculum will give you the skills necessary to immediately deal with things like acute bleeding, stabilizing fractures or head trauma, and performing CPR.

Know The Local Emergency Numbers + Always Carry A Way to Call

This might seem like a trivial point, but you can’t call for search and rescue if you can’t place the call, or don’t know the number. Always carry a cellphone into the backcountry, and if service is spotty, carry an additional SOS/communication device like a Garmin InReach or Spot.

Make sure these things are charged enough to actually work if things turn south. It might be tempting to not carry something like this if you’re “just” ducking out the gates of your local resort, or “merely” going for a short ski tour after work, but don’t fall for that trap. Everywhere, every time. It’s exactly when we’re the least prepared that things can go bad the fastest.

In the United States and Canada, dialing 911 will get you connected to the proper authorities to coordinate a response, but that number is different elsewhere in the world.

• North & South America emergencies: 911
• Europe emergencies: 112
• Alpine Rescue (Austria Only): 140
• Japan ambulance/rescue: 119
• New Zealand emergencies: 111
• Chile ambulance/rescue: 131

Additionally, some locations have direct local phone numbers to call for a helicopter rescue, ski patrol, or other emergencies. You can typically find these numbers at trailheads or the bases of ski areas.

Understand (And Respect) Local Resources Allocated to Rescue

This is something I’ve learned over the years traveling to different mountain ranges across the world, but was on stark display at ICAR 2025: things work very differently depending on where you are. This is not to say that teams won’t come and get you to the best of their abilities, but available rescue resources can be very different based on your exact location.

For example, Austrian mountain rescue is entirely volunteer-run and operated on a hyper-local basis, where rescue teams are assembled from folks working day jobs. Helicopters are available, but need to be commissioned from a private company for a rescue.

On the other hand, in most parts of the French Alps (especially in Chamonix), alpine rescue is handled by a branch of the military with specially-trained teams whose full-time job is to be a rescue professional. In the United States, resource allocation is also a huge patchwork, drawn on state or even county lines.

What does that mean? Obviously, never rely on SAR as a failsafe to a poorly-made plan. But more seriously, adjust your risk management strategy accordingly. Especially if you’re heading into a new-to-you zone, understand that things might take a little longer based on where you are.

Heli resources might not exist, or the team might not have other specialty resources like high-angle rescue, snowmobile, RECCO, or other tools in their arsenal, instead relying on old-fashioned foot travel. That means carrying extra layers, a more substantial first aid kit, or potentially an overnight system in your pack.