Mesa County Search And Rescue Is Saving Lives In The Grand Valley

This past summer on a scorching 96-degree day, the all-volunteer members of the Mesa County Search and Rescue team (MesaSAR) had their propensity for heat tolerance along with their technical rescue expertise put to the test. It’s important to note that performing technical operations on steep mountain slope sides in high desert temps, while being fully loaded with medical gear and rescue equipment is par for the course for this crew. On that day, the knowledge and experience they’ve accumulated in such conditions resulted in the attainment of three Mountain Rescue Association (MRA) certifications, encapsulating over a year’s worth of planning for required criteria, underscored by intense and extensive weekly training.

Although a formal recorded history of the genesis of the program doesn’t exist, members attest the roots were planted in the early 1960s through a Boy Scouts program in response to a need for backcountry rescue knowledge and assistance. With the growth of the community and the increased participation in outdoor recreation, MesaSAR has expanded considerably throughout the decades, adapting to the specific rescue response needs of the Grand Valley.

In a continual effort to improve the program and under the direction of the Mesa County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO), the legislative arm under which the program exists, MesaSAR sought to achieve the MRA certs to enhance their training, standardize processes and gain peer knowledge with the support and validation of the nationally recognized organization and the Rocky Mountain Region SAR teams. While the team once operated as separate specialized groups focused on targeted skill sets such as technical, swift water and drone, their journey to gain MRA certification would mark a significant development milestone as the team consolidated into a single entity capable of adjusting dynamically to mission requirements as they occurred in the field. To accomplish this, members trained in all aspects of Backcountry Search and Rescue (BSAR) with specific emphasis on regionally appropriate skills, enabling effective responses to changing mission requirements. These requirements might start as a ground search and escalate to vertical rescue, deep in one of the many cliffs and canyons of Mesa County.

In January, the 40-plus members amped their training commitment up from one to two days a week with additional intense weekend scenario work to prepare them for test evaluations in Search, and High and Low Angle Technical Rescue — three of the five accreditations MRA certifies, saving avalanche and winter rescue for future training and assessment initiatives. More than members from Rocky Mountain Region MRA SAR teams traveled to Grand Junction for a weekend to connect and ultimately evaluate the performance of the MesaSAR team. As the fourth largest county in Colorado with a growing population and an ever-increasing attraction to the area by outdoor enthusiasts, member Nicholas Ingalls expressed it was both necessary and appropriate for MesaSAR to join the ranks of fellow MRA teams to “increase the professional cross-pollination of ideas, potential for increased ability of mutual aid, and to join an organization with a proven track record of supporting close to 100 other mountain rescue teams across the U.S. and internationally.”

According to its website, MesaSAR has completed close to 100 missions in the last year and over 1,000 missions in the past 20-plus years. Ingalls surmised this equates to “more than 5,000 volunteer hours dedicated to missions annually, and when factoring in training time, this number can easily surpass 10,000.” The program relies solely on community donations, grants and allocated resources provided by MSCO. When they are not in the field, they currently share warehouse space with MSCO and Wildland Fire for their weekly training sessions. Member Nallely Bean expressed that although the team is grateful for the space allotment, it is a “tight squeeze” when fully occupied by MesaSAR and Wildland Fire vehicles, equipment and people. The space also lacks air conditioning, which presents its own set of challenges when operating in weather conditions which can regularly reach triple digits. Ingalls added the team is “rapidly outgrowing (the space)” and therefore many of their training days are performed outside, adding “there is something positive to be said about training in the areas where we have missions,” however with high mission loads which require multiple exercises, “it’s nice to be in an environment where your focus is on learning and not the elements.”

The team dreams of their own dedicated training space, but as a lower populated and more economically strapped community compared to other Rocky Mountain SAR teams, the funds simply aren’t there yet. However, this is a crew who lives in and loves the Grand Valley and the abundance of opportunity to recreate, and their purpose is to ensure folks are reassured of safety and rescue when participating outdoors, regardless of the temperature. Not all heroes wear capes. Some wear a lot of gear in really hot conditions.

Learn more about MesaSAR and how to donate and volunteer at mesacountysar.com.

Originally published in the Fall 2024 issue of Spoke+Blossom.