Western Mountain Rescue Team

06/07/2026

At the end of May WMRT celebrated the end of the 2025-2026 academic year with awards and a SARbecue! Check out our list of awards and awardees.

Vonnie Laudick: Liam Rimbach 
The Vonnie M. Laudick award is presented to the Western Mountain Rescue Team member who displays the outstanding qualities of leadership, enthusiasm, and compassion for all living things. Created to perpetuate the memory of Yvonne Laudick (’83)

Heather O’Connor: Sydney Yelton 
The Heather O’Connor award is awarded to the most outstanding field class member in memory of Heather O’Connor.

Highline Award: Chaffee County Search 
Recognizes team members outstanding performance on a specific mission during the year. 

Junkin Stokes Award: Dylan MacKenzie 
Awarded to the team member with the best attitude throughout the year. Awardee is someone who raises the morale of the team and is always willing to lend a hand and support their peers. 

Bent Clipboard: McKenzie McConnell 
The bent clipboard is awarded to the Mission Coordinator who ran the most missions in the prior calendar year.

Hélmütt/ Code Kearns: Ryan Largent
Recognizes a Mission Coordinator who made a “Big Goof” on a mission or training in the prior year.

WMRT Service Award: Liam Rimbach (Not pictured)
Recognizes a team member who has contributed significant service to the team.

Congrats to all of the awardees and a huge thanks to all team members who put in countless hours of work this year. As school ends WMRT is getting ready for the summer we are always here and ready to help!

04/15/2026

Thank you to all the amazing telecommunicators across the nation who make our work possible, you are incredible!

WMRT deeply values our relationship with Gunnison Regional 911 Center. Thank you to our first-first responders.🫶

💛This week, we proudly recognize National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week, April 12–18.

Behind every call for help is a calm, steady voice guiding the way. Our 911 professionals are the first, first responders, providing life-saving instructions, coordinating emergency response, and supporting our community through some of its most critical moments.

Their work is often unseen, but never unimportant. We are incredibly grateful for our team's dedication, professionalism, and commitment to serving Gunnison and Hinsdale counties every single day.

To all 911 Professionals, thank you for being the voice that makes a difference. 💛

04/13/2026

Here’s a second photo dump‼️
Thank you to for spending your weekend taking pictures for us! And thank you to all the members and evaluators who contributed as well.

04/13/2026

BIG NEWS‼️‼️
This weekend, the Western Mountain Rescue Team tested against the MRA Accreditation standard and we remain the only mountain rescue team accredited by the MRA who's membership is primarily college students!

We passed:
Our Scree scenario: unanimously
High angle scenario: unanimously
Search scenario: unanimously
Avalanche scenario: 12/14 votes
Winter technical scenario: 13/14 votes

A huge thank you from the team to all the members of teams who travelled to evaluate our performance!

We look forward to five more years of training to pull people out of the back country and dedicate our time to the community and backcountry enjoyers.

We look forward to seeing all the amazing teams in our region of the MRA again soon!