New Member Info
From ASAR-Wiki
New Member Introduction to Atalaya Search and Rescue Team
Atalaya Search & Rescue welcomes new members to our team. We have meetings every other Wednesday in the Whole Foods Community Room at 6:30 pm (please park off-site), however from time to time we meet at other locations so please check first. Whole Foods is located at 753 Cerrillos Road in Santa Fe. You can get updates on our meeting schedule and find out more about our team by clicking on Training Schedule.
We are a jovial bunch of SAR volunteers, as you will soon come to know! There's nothing like wandering around in the wilderness with a bunch of good friends, wearing a headlamp and radio, carrying a 30# pack, all the while calling out someone's name who might be lost. We also perform rescues, be it in the trees, on the snow, or even on the rock, day and night. We welcome people with backcountry experience, but no experience is required to join the team, just some enthusiasm, a flexible schedule, and a basic level of commitment.
New members to our team will be assigned a sponsor who can show you the ropes and help you obtain all of the necessary gear and information. If you don’t already know someone on the team, Carl Gable is the point of contact for new members, and will act as your sponsor. You can contact Carl at 665-3533 (office), or by email at membership_info@atalayasar.org.
Anyone is invited to attend a meeting, however, you must attend three meetings before you may you can become a Support Member. You may then have access to password protected pages on our website, you can get on the Roster, and you may sign up to receive and send team communications. Before you may go into the field on a training or mission, you are required to pass a Pack Check and an internal PACE exam.
PACE stands for Policy Advisory Committee on Education, and is a State Search and Rescue certification to evaluate the readiness of SAR personnel to operate safely, carry out basic search techniques, and to properly perform other standard SAR incident activities. You can acquire a PACE packet by contacting membership_info@atalayasar.org, or downloading a (huge) PDF from http://www.nmesc.org, or by calling the State SAR Director, James Newberry, at (505) 827-9228. You can find out where and when the next PACE test will be by contacting Bob Lathrop by email at rlathrop@dfn.com, or the State SAR Director, James Newberry, at (505) 827-9228. You may participate in ASAR team trainings and go out on SAR missions only after you have done an internal PACE test, and it is strongly suggested that you complete a State sanctioned PACE test within 6 months.
You will find out more about our team by attending meetings, completing New Member Orientation (offered periodically), and asking lots of questions. It costs $50 a year to be a member of Atalaya SAR. For students, the fee is waived. Have a look at our Gear List, start acquiring the required equipment and clothing, and we’ll see you at the next meeting.
We look forward to meeting you.
