Someone is missing
~3,000
search and rescue operations a year in U.S. national parks alone (12,337 in 2003–2006)
3,000–3,600
backcountry search and rescue calls a year in Colorado
~2,800
unpaid volunteers on more than 50 Colorado teams do this work
$1,500
of their own money each volunteer spends a year on gear and fuel
The odds fall with every hour
In land searches, the probability of finding the person alive decreases with time. Speed is the whole game.
Sources: Heggie & Amundson, Dead men walking: search and rescue in US national parks, Wilderness & Environmental Medicine, 2009 · Colorado Parks and Wildlife backcountry SAR study, 2021; Colorado Search and Rescue Association · Sava, Koester et al., Evaluating lost person behavior models, 2015.
