Use the form on the right to contact us.
3720 Walnut St
Boulder, CO, 80301
United States
303-449-4141
contact@RockyMountainRescue.org
Rocky Mountain Rescue Group, Inc. (RMRG) is an all-volunteer organization trained and equipped for search and rescue on mountainous terrain in all weather conditions. Founded in 1947, we are Boulder County's primary mountain rescue agency, but upon request also assist other mountain rescue teams outside the county. We also provide outdoor recreation safety education and disaster response services. RMRG is a non-profit IRS 501(c)3 organization and we do not charge for our services.
Our latest missions, lessons learned, safety education, fundraising and provide a searchable record of selected past missions from which we hope you learn what you need to never need our assistance in the field.
2 hour video, recorded at the Longmont Museum, September 23, 2022. Description of RMRG in 2022, RMRG's first vehicle in the 1940s, radio communication in past decades, Kevin Dye search near Casper, WY, 1971; cable winch evacuation systems, Mt. Yale winter plane crash search and rescue (1981) and looking to the future.
As schedule allows, we’ll publish excerpts as shorter length clips
Patient loading into litter video (10 sec):
Start of patient loading video from the opposite direction
Practicing with the bag valve mask on an airway mannequin
“Scree evacuation” (belayed low angle litter lowering) to end the training.
All are welcome.. Make time in your Sunday to see demonstrations of rope skills at our tower and demonstrations of a vertical (cliff) litter rescue. There will be several activities just for kids like trying out being “rescued” in one of our litters. Take a tour of our facilities, view one of our rescue trucks with 1200 lbs. of rescue gear. You can also see the 3200’ of rope that is in each of our trucks. View a slide show of RMRG rescues and practices spanning 75 years.
Let us know on Facebook if you are interested of will be coming.
Boulder Public Library - 1001 Arapahoe Ave. Boulder CO Arapahoe Ramp Gallery
Rocky Mountain Rescue Group - 75 years of Search and Rescue Leadership
Photos of RMRG missions and practices from the 1950’s to today. Printable flier (PDF)
Boulder Public Library - 1001 Arapahoe Ave. Boulder Creek room, Boulder CO, 12:30-1:30 pm: Rocky Mountain Rescue Group - 75 Years and Still Going Strong
by Dr. Alison Sheets, RMRG’s current medical director, past Group Leader, and current Mountain Rescue Association President. In person only calendar events: Google event, Facebook Event
Longmont Museum - 400 Quail Rd. Longmont CO, Steward Auditorium 7:30-9:00 pm
A Retrospective of Rocky Mountain Rescue Group’s Service to Boulder County and Beyond. RMRG speakers and video interview clips, and slide show. Printable flier (PDF)
Facebook Livestream https://fb.me/e/1HvylNVIl In person calendar events: Google event, Facebook Event
The Cage (RMRG Headquarters) - 3720 Walnut St. Boulder CO; 10:00 am-1:00 pm.
RMRG member demonstrations, For families and all ages. In person only calendar events: Google event, Facebook Event ; Printable flier (PDF)
Other climbers reported the injured party was climbing the “Purple Haze” route on the West Ridge. (MountainProject link). The climber was leading the route, fell and a couple of pieces of protection failed, including a “fixed” piton. Seasonal warning to climbers: Winter freeze - thaw cycles loosen rock that was solid last fall. Use extra caution for the next few months.
Training March 20, 2022 & 50 years earlier. Same cliff, modern gear in use today:
Litter packaging includes a vacuum mattress which is molded around the patient, evacuated to rigidity & secures the patient in the litter
“Third man” assisting with protecting patient
“Third man” on separate line, above litter. Brake station will lower the litter born patient to the ground from here.
Military steel stokes litter with leg divider. RMRG customization to split litter into packable half pieces, turn buckles welded to litter for re-assembly in the field. Then standard litter rigging attachment to lowering ropes. ~Same location as 2022
Improvised litter rigging using a short Goldine rope to attach litter to lowering ropes. ~Same location as 2022
Alumni Association Flyer (PDF)
Our Mission The RMRG Alumni Association (RMRGAA) unites RMRG’s rich history with the RMRG of today. Our mission is to enhance and renew the lifelong Rocky Mountain Rescue Group experience for all Alumni. We inspire those that have served RMRG in the past to support RMRG today. We help maintain lasting friendships and build on our shared experience.
Our Goals
Maintain Connections
Maintain connections between RMRG Alumni and RMRG operational members. Maintain a worldwide RMRG family, by providing updates about RMRG today, stories of the past, and opportunities to reunite. Ensure that psychological health support continues for RMRG Alumni.
Support RMRG Support the team through a variety of ways from assisting with current non-field related operations, to contributing your professional skills for a variety of needs, to fundraising for important projects, to helping with annual events and anniversary celebrations like our upcoming 75th Anniversary! (2022)
Preserve RMRG’s History
Help preserve RMRG’s history with written stories, interviews, keeping our RMRG history website updated, and maintaining our historic RMRG equipment and records.
Our Membership All current and former Operational Members (Alumni) and invited Friends of RMRG.
Please contact
Alumni Association Alumni Association
April Christenson
President
To contact the RMRG Alumni Association, please fill in & submit the form below.
Rocky Mountain Rescue Group has a long history, over 70 years of providing free rescue services. Perhaps our most used piece of equipment is the litter. The litter is a basket used to protect and support an injured party in an evacuation.
Stokes litter, 1955, RMRG
The first litter used in the group was the “Stokes litter” which was used from 1947-1988. That type of litter was developed by the Navy. It was originally designed by Francis Stokes, retired surgeon general of the Navy. It had a tubular steel frame with a wire mesh “shell”. RMRG modified their Stokes litters by cutting them in half for backcountry portability. We added a tubular sleeve and a turn buckle to secure the two halves of the litter into a complete litter for evacuations. This gave the rescue group the ability to put the 2 litter halves on a metal backpack frame to carry into the field. Often the group carries a litter into a mission in the mountains for many miles. The Stokes litters weighed about 40 lbs. Typically a rescuer carrying a litter into the field also has to attach and carry their own personal pack. Quite a load!
“Super litter” rigged for vertical rescue lower, test tower, 2000’s, RMRG
In the early 1980’s RMRG decided to design and build their own custom litter. After extensive deliberation, we came up with a design. In 1983 we purchased the materials for 10 “Super litters,” and contracted with a fabricator. Unfortunately that fabricator went out of business. It took quite some time to retrieve the materials, engage a new fabricator and make the litters. In November 1988 the first new Super litters went into service. They were constructed with a stainless steel tubing frame and stainless steel sheet sides and bottom. The Super litter provided more protection for the patient than the “Stokes” mesh basket litter. The Super litters weighed in at 45 lbs. Super litters were also carried into the field in 2 halves on a metal backpack frame. Sturdy construction kept Super litters in service for 32 years despite hard use in countless training exercises and evacuating more than 1,000 patients.
New Spartan litter in vertical evacuation configuration, Flagstaff Mountain, 2019, RMRG
As of June 2020 RMRG retired the Super litter and now uses commercially manufactured Traverse Rescue “Spartan” litters. They are quite a bit lighter in weight and also separate into 2 sections for carrying into the field. The construction is titanium tubing with a plastic shell. RMRG spent several years evaluating and testing, we finally chose the “Spartan” litters.
Stokes litter, tryol (high line) evacuation rigging, 1950s, RMRG
Super litter, tyrol evacuation of an injured climber across South Boulder Creek, Eldorado Canyon State Park RMRG
Stokes liter, practice tryrol evacuation, 1950s, RMRG
Super litter on snowmobile sled, practice 2000’s RMRG
New Spartan litter, tyrol rigging, RMRG
New Spartan litter on backpack frame, RMRG
Starting "scree evacuation" practice, somewhere in Boulder County, 1960s or '70s
Excerpt from Playing for Real: Stories from Rocky Mountain Rescue
By Mark Scott-Nash (RMRG retired)
A mountain rescue group was a revolutionary idea necessitated by an unprecedented cluster of mountaineering accidents and tragedies in the winter of 1946-1947. Volunteer mountain search and rescue groups were unheard of before this, when accidents were few and far between. Subsequent newspaper notices called for volunteers to meet and bring their ideas about search and rescue. The meeting time of the Rocky Mountain Rescue Group was set for 7:30p.m., the same time meetings have been held ever since.
A steering committee was formed that consisted of Art Everson (the sheriff), Charles Hutchinson, C.A. Hutchinson Jr. Clinton Duvall, Evertt Long, Bruce Snow, Clayton Weaver (Forest Service ranger), Stuart Mace, Art McNair, and John Pederson . . .
Spectacular missions dot RMR’s history from those earliest days . . .
Check back here for the next installment of 70th stories: The RMR mission that gave “airplane gully” on Navajo Peak west of Boulder it’s name.
Vertical evacuation of injured party
At 2:40 p.m. Friday, May 12, Boulder County Communications Center notified RMRG and partner agencies of an injured climber on the Bastille cliff formation in Eldorado Canyon State Park. Rescuers responded to the scene and deployed to the top of the cliff to prepare an evacuation. Rescuers completed a vertical evacuation down the north face of the Bastille to an ambulance on the road immediately below.
The injured party was wearing a helmet which was damaged by the accident. The individual was "leading" at the time of the accident. RMRG wishes the injured party a full and speedy recovery.
More photos:
Looking down from the brake station at the top of the Bastille. Patient in the litter, top middle.
Higher on the evacuation
Evacuation nearing the road below (foreground)
Saturday evening field training
Read MoreScree evacuation of an injured climber, March 27, 2017, Eldorado Canyon State Park.
Read MoreStaged on Bluebell Road, rescuers used binoculars to direct roped teams to the stuck party on the North side of the Third Flatiron.
The stuck party (wearing white) and rescuers (wearing blue) as seen through a spotting scope at the Bluebell Shelter.
RMRG members coordinated the rescue of a stuck scrambler who had climbed up the north side of the Third Flatiron on the morning of Monday, September 19. After finding himself in precarious, technical terrain, the scrambler began yelling for help. A bystander heard the screams, located the stuck party and called 911. Rocky Mountain Rescue Group responded to the call, sending in roped climbing teams from both above and below the scrambler. Once secured, the uninjured scrambler was lowered to the trail and hiked out to the trail-head. RMRG never charges for rescue services, and there were no fees/charges associated with this rescue.
RMRG rescues many stuck scramblers in the Flatirons and would like to take this opportunity to remind people that the Flatirons are composed of many technical routes. Scrambling, with or without ropes, can be very dangerous. It is easy to unintentionally end up in difficult terrain. Always be aware of dangerous terrain (lichen, pine needles, moss, loose rock, water) on less traveled routes. When planning a climb make sure to research route descriptions, including instructions on how to return back down to the trail. Remember that climbing up is often easier than down-climbing.
Only attempt to climb a features which you have researched and have the proper gear/expertise to safely complete.
Transferring an injured party to an air ambulance, Betasso Preserve, September 11, 2016
Read MoreRescuers performing a night scree evacuation of an injured party along the base of the 2nd Flatiron. Rescuers pull the litter against a lowering belay rope (not visible) tied to the head end of the litter.
Read MoreOn Friday May 20th, Rocky Mountain Rescue Group responded to a 911 call for an injured party near the Tonnere Tower area of Boulder Canyon.
Read MoreThe fall 2015 Mountain Rescue association newsletter
Read MoreThat slow and deliberate atmosphere changed at 8:56 when a page went out for RMR to“respond to the Bear Peak summit for an open, compound fracture”.
Read MoreGetting ready for Thursday night at the Walnut Brewery! Come on out at 6pm for our Mountain Rescue Ale tapping, a tour of our rescue truck and to mix/mingle with friends. Get a free pint from 6-6:30.
Read MoreView of a lowering station along the South Ridge of Mount Sanitas, where the evacuation left the trail to descend west to the Mount Sanitas Valley (Fire) Road.
Read More