An inside look at one individual’s journey to becoming a member of AMRC.
I’m dangling helplessly from a rope 100 feet above the canyon floor with a shattered hip and plummeting blood pressure. My consciousness is fading when I hear a voice from the canyon floor: “We’re from the Albuquerque Mountain Rescue Council and help is on the way!”
I’ve volunteered to play a patient for a high-angle rescue training exercise for AMRC. The hanging in a harness for an hour bit is real, but my injuries are pretend as I’ve been instructed to act like I’ve taken a severe hit during an afternoon of rock climbing. The initial contact by the hasty team–a small group deployed to make contact with the patient before the rest of the equipment-carrying team arrives– lifts my spirits and gives me hope even though this is just a training. I can only imagine the power of these words if my situation were real.
In my years of playing in and exploring the Sandía Mountains and greater New Mexico, I knew that there was an Albuquerque-based search and rescue team, and hoped I’d never meet it. I took measures to stay safe in the wilderness but understood that there were only so many precautions I could take and so much luck I could count on. Tales of rescues spread like wildfire throughout the outdoor community, I was thankful that there was a group of people who would drop everything to help those in trouble when luck and/or common sense ran out.
In January 2018 I had heard of an open meeting of the Albuquerque Mountain Rescue Council, and decided to finally check it out. The thought of helping people while learning advanced outdoor skills hooked me. I went to the next month’s meeting. And the next. I earned my Wilderness First Responder certification through NOLS in hopes of joining the AMRC team. I became a prospective member and volunteered to play patients for AMRC trainings such as the shattered hip scenario that proved as educational as it was exciting. I was already rappelling and getting carried out of the mountains on a stretcher. I got to see first hand how the team trained and functioned together, and was impressed by the diversity and knowledge of its members.
The public meetings are lectures on everything from equipment to wilderness medicine. As I got to know members of the team and understood the mission of AMRC, I knew this was an organization I wanted to be a part of. When I was invited to submit an application for membership in January 2019, I jumped at the opportunity. A few weeks later I was told I had been accepted into the 2019 Operational Core Curriculum Class, and to get ready for a deluge of information, training and time commitment.
Since February my eleven classmates and I have been learning the fundamental knowledge needed to operate on the team. There are hours of classroom lectures, readings, technical trainings, learning knots and rescue systems, protocols, weekend-long scenarios and physical fitness tests. If we pass the final tests in May, we’ll be operational members of AMRC and able to deploy into the field to help anyone in need anywhere in New Mexico’s rugged back-country. Given that we could be put into life-and-death situations with our fellow teammates and patients, the training is dead serious.
Written By: Steve Larese
Travel Journalist
AMRC Member in Training
Serious Outdoors-men