WANT TO BE AN ELITE MOUNTAIN SEARCH AND RESCUE RESPONDER?
ASAR Members wake up in the middle of the night, drive two hours to incident base, and hike for 12 hours to search for lost people or to rescue injured people.
They are committed to the mission and to each other. They are safe and reliable team members. They stay rescue ready by maintaining physical fitness, keeping a SAR backpack always at the ready, and attending biweekly trainings.
Members of Atalaya Search and Rescue are expected to commit hundreds of hours per year to mission response, team trainings, team meetings, and other events and functions such as First Aid volunteering, fundraising, and administrative duties. We are an all-volunteer team of entirely unpaid individuals with jobs, families, and other hobbies and interests — yet, we all respond to missions when possible, maintain our skills at team trainings, and contribute to a healthy and social team culture.
TIME COMMITMENT
Members of wilderness search and rescue teams often spend long nights in the wilderness with very little rest covering a substantial amount of terrain on foot. Active members of ASAR are expected to maintain a physical fitness level that provides sufficient endurance and strength to shoulder heavy, 30 pound loads for many continuous hours and miles while operating on little or no sleep, through the night. We do not have a fitness requirement on the team — members are expected to maintain physical fitness on their own.
FITNESS
No experience is necessary to join Atalaya SAR; however, all active members achieve a standard minimum level of proficiency, which includes knowledge of high angle and medium angle rope rescue systems, search techniques in a variety of terrains and environments, team avalanche rescue, snow evacuation, and application of basic wilderness medicine protocols. Active members are expected to maintain the team’s core competencies and improve their personal skills over time.
COMPETENCIES
BECOME A MEMBER
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ASAR holds information sessions at the beginning of a new prospective member application period every 1-2 years. You must attend one of these sessions in order to apply to join the team. Our most recent application period occurred in November and December 2025.
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After completing the application to join the team, you may be selected for a short, in-person interview. This interview helps us get to know you better and to assess whether you will be a good fit for our team. If accepted, you become a member of our prospective member cohort. Congratulations!
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Once accepted as a prospective member, we will work with you to complete internal team requirements and external state requirements. Our team requirements include completing the cohort training curriculum, passing a qualification hike, passing a written exam, and passing a practical skills evaluation. The state requirements include completion of FEMA courses ICS 100 and ICS 200 and passing the New Mexico Field Certification Exam. Once all requirements are complete, you become a probationary member of the team!
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As a probationary member of ASAR, you are permitted and encouraged to respond to missions under the direct supervision of an active member. Mission response is the best way to quickly gain valuable SAR experience. You are also expected to attend team meetings and team trainings. By year’s end, you must have attended at least 5 meetings, at least 5 trainings, and at least 2 missions, or you risk being ineligible for active membership
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If you successfully complete the probationary membership requirements by the end of the calendar year, you are eligible to be voted into active membership by the team. As long as you’ve made a good impression amongst your future teammates and proven your dedication and commitment to the search and rescue mission and to the team, this is more of a formality than a real test. Welcome to the team!
Interested? Send an email to info@atalayasar.org letting us know you want to be informed when the next information sessions are.
I’M A MEMBER! NOW WHAT?
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As an Active Member of Atalaya Search and Rescue, you are eligible and expected to respond to as many mission callouts for lost and/or injured people in the backcountry of New Mexico as possible. This is where your hard work and training pays off, and members often find tremendous fulfillment in reuniting lost or injured people safely with their loved ones.
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To maintain Active Membership, you are expected to respond to at least 3 missions and to attend at least 6 team trainings and at least 6 team meetings each year. In addition, you are expected to continue to maintain and enhance your knowledge and skills in rescue beyond the minimum requirements to be on the team. There are ample opportunities on ASAR to pursue further recreational and rescue training such as avalanche courses, rigging courses, and wilderness medicine courses, often with a subsidy provided by the team.
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Many members are perfectly content with active membership. If you find yourself interested in a more technical track and want to pursue further training and expertise, you can work toward either rock or winter rescue technician qualifications. These are subsets of more advanced skills that are expected of field leaders. These requirements often take a few years to complete after obtaining initial active membership.
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Once you complete both the rock and the winter rescue technician qualifications, you are eligible to become a Rescue Member. This level of membership requires significant dedication to the team and to personal improvement over many years. Rescue Members are considered technical leaders in the field during missions.
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If search and rescue is truly your calling and you see yourself serving the lost and injured of New Mexico for years to come, you might eventually become eligible for a Rescue Leader position. These are the few most experienced and skilled members of the team with many decades of combined experience under their belts. Rescue Leaders determine and maintain the technical standards and operating procedures by which the team operates. They often represent our team amongst other search and rescue teams in the Rocky Mountain region.