If you are looking to hang out of helicopters, put red lights and sirens on your car and having action-packed rescues, you have come to the wrong place. Many people come to the Group thinking that this is what mountain rescue is all about. Mountain rescue involves hard work, sometimes long hours with little or no sleep, sometimes technically challenging problems to solve, and getting into the mountains during odd times and circumstances. Choosing a career in mountain rescue can lead to a very rough road. Most mountain rescue positions in this country are on a volunteer basis.
Many people involved in mountain rescue have primary paying jobs in other fields to make a living.
However, there are several job types that can have mountain rescue as a secondary duty to the primary responsibility. Park rangers and sheriff officers are such careers. The primary job of these careers is mostly law enforcement in nature. Mountain rescue is a small part of the life of rangers and deputies. The key to getting into such a position is to have years of experience in many fields, including several years as a law enforcement officer, many years of mountaineering, several years of volunteer mountain rescue work, and some experience in emergency medical training.