Central Washington Mountain Rescue

06/04/2026

The first Tuesday of every month we have an all SAR Training. This has been great as it allow all of our teams to train together; getting to know each other and getting to understand the processes of the other teams.

This month training was on a topic that is consistent throughout all units. The Resiliency Committee facilitated training on the five components of Psychological First Aid and then set up role-plays so members could practice using these components. The best part was getting feedback from the actors on what was helpful.

Note: The first picture shows Sunny, our Therapy Dog. This was his first participation and he did his job well! (I added a few pictures of his other mates from our Dog Team.)

Thank you to Gary, Sandy and Chelan our actors for the role plays.

05/31/2026

05/30/2026

Beautiful evening for some great training! Thank you City of Yakima Fire Department for allowing us the use of the FireTower for our training! This allows us to train close to home on skills involving high angle rescues!
First, some instruction on the use of the Windless and the Clutches. Both were used in our rescue scenarios.

05/21/2026

Congratulations to the new SAR graduates!

Some of these new members have joined us in Central Washington Mountain Rescue.

So that others may live.

Look who graduated from our SAR Academy!

The search-and-rescue academy covers the basics of staying safe outdoors, including map and compass navigation, backcountry first aid, patient packaging, search theory, and lost-person behavior. We review the 13 essentials, conduct a few field-day training sessions to practice map and compass skills, and run several mock missions, including one with an emphasis on radio use. The finale was a mock mission on Forest Service Rd 1500 near Soup Creek.

The time commitment for the academy is about 2 months of Mondays (mid-Jan to mid-March) and 2 or 3 Saturday field days. They also have online modules/videos to complete (about 13), along with FEMA, helicopter, and psychological first aid classes.

Congratulations to the graduates, and thank you for your willingness to help others in our county.

05/19/2026

We continue to prepare for the busy summer season.

First and foremost, we ask that people playing in the mountains and at the climbing crags:
1. Check weather
2. Plan ahead for potential challenges
3. Let someone know your departure time, where you are going and what your expected return time will be and the plan for contacting authorities if you are not back at the time you should be. (make sure they know the make and model of your car, the license plate number and where you will be parking. Leave a copy of your travel plan inside your car)
4. Always carry the 10 Essentials (google to find a list if you do not have one) Have fully charged batteries on your phone. Remember, cell phones may not have reception. Newer phones may have SOS Satellite tracking (check to confirm this before you leave) If you have some type of Personal Locator Beacon, take it with you.

A few pictures from our last training: Steep Angle Lower with a mid-station anchor to continue the lower. Emphasis is on equalizing multiple anchors, which can be challenging depending on the available anchors. Techniques are different for a Vertical Lower, vs a Steep Angle Lower and a Low Angle Lower. We practice all three.

04/21/2026

Resilience is key to CWMR and this is a regular focus at training. All new members receive training on Resiliency and develop a personal Individual Resiliency Plan. We also focus on Team Resiliency. Ongoing training and quarterly social events have significantly helped in this area by helping build relationships between our members which is key when we are on challenging missions.
We have recently added an emotional support canine to our team and are developing a plan for how he will integrate into our work.

04/19/2026

This weeks Wednesday training built off our last training involving a pick off of a mid-face injured climber. This training included the use of a litter.

The plan:
*set up a 2 rope rescue system using natural
anchors.
*perform a BC pick off of an injured climber
*lower the injured climber to the ground
*package in a litter
*raise the litter and injured climber to the top of
the cliff with the litter in a vertical orientation
*perform a Pike and Pivot maneuver to get over
the cliff edge

We had a number of our newer members in attendance, so a lot of learning was had.

04/01/2026

Beautiful evening for training last week, minus the wind! 😊
Time to get out in nature for some practice setting anchors in a natural environment along with some repelling practice and simple pickoffs.
We had a great turnout with two stations set up; practice for seasoned members and learning for new members.

03/12/2026

Central Washington Mt. Rescue has been busy on scene and behind the scene.

We’ve assisted Yakima County search and Rescue on several missions. And we’ve been planning and holding regular training.

Phase III and IV helicopter training was held this month.

Phase III HRT training is a mock mission format where an HRT will be inserted to the training area (steep terrain) via hoist, establish safety rigging, receive the medic, assist the medic with patient SKED packaging, assist the medic in hoisting the (dummy) patient and then the medic themselves back into the helo, clearing and packing the rigging, and returning to the helo via hoist.

Phase IV is the same, but at night.

Thank you to U.S. Army Air Ambulance Detachment "Yakima Dustoff" for a successful training. We are mission ready for the upcoming season.