Central Washington Mountain Rescue

Central Washington Mountain Rescue CWMR is a volunteer organization dedicated to all-season search, rescue & recovery operations in mountainous and hazardous terrain throughout Wa.

Central Washington Mountain Rescue has been active in Yakima since the late 1940's. Our unit consists of a dedicated group of mountaineers who have seldom sought publicity for their activities, but have always been available to leave the comfort of their homes to help bring back those who have gotten in trouble in the mountains of the world. Throughout the years our unit has participated in missio

ns ranging from plane crashes and natural disasters, to lost and/or injured children, hikers, mountain climbers, and hunters. We are trained to respond locally, nationally, and internationally. Our members have participated in rescues as far away as Alaska and Northeast Canada and have trained with Mountain Rescue personnel throughout the U.S. as well as in Canada and Mexico. Our volunteer members come from all walks of life and are prepared to respond any time of any day, wherever the need arises. Whatever the mission, there will be members leaving work, recreation or home and family to respond. Our work has been totally volunteer, financed by a low key request for donations from an equally dedicated group of supporters, primarily in the Yakima Valley. A truck for hauling equipment, ropes, some technical and medical equipment, radios and a couple of litters have been financed by donations. The rest comes out of the members pockets. Each member has personal climbing and rescue equipment often costing $2,000-3,000 or more. This equipment is used for the benefit of helping those who become lost or injured while in the mountains. Our greatest reward is the knowledge that there are many people alive today who would not have survived without the timely assistance of our efforts. Our unit has been recognized by a plaque from the governor for life saving, one from the Eagles, a couple of commendations to members from the Army MAST commander, and letters of praise from the local Sheriff's office to several of our members. If you have any comments, questions, or would like to become a financial supporter, we would really appreciate hearing from you! All contributions are tax deductible. More on the Mountain Rescue Association here: www.mra.org

08/24/2026

Thank you U.S. Army Ambulance Detachment “Yakima Dustoff” for keeping our Helo Team certified!

08/14/2026

Thankful we could help in this mission.

08/12/2026

June 2026-Crevasse Rescue Day

08/12/2026
Last weekend CWMR had two calls requesting assistance on Mt. Adams. Fortunately, both calls were handled by the OP on du...
06/25/2026

Last weekend CWMR had two calls requesting assistance on Mt. Adams. Fortunately, both calls were handled by the OP on duty and everyone was safe.

The first call came in late Saturday afternoon. The reporting party called regarding a relative who had summit the Mountain was coming down, but was experiencing some potential early signs of altitude sickness. Her approximate location on the Mountain was able to be determined by Information provided from her phone. Several attempts were made to contact her via phone and text. The OP started the Mission process to get CWMR Members geared up and ready to go and requested air assist be put on standby. Contact was received by text an hour later requesting SAR/ CWMR be called off. The subject was okay and she and her climbing partner were descending to lunch counter, packing up and returning to their car. This Mission involved nine of our members who geared up and were ready to go, or able to help with communications at the station.

The second call also call came in late Saturday afternoon. A father and his sons were climbing the mountain. One of the party was having leg cramps early on and decided not to continue the climb. He headed back to the car. A meeting place was established. When the two climbers returned to the meeting place, the third climber was not there. One of the climbers called 911 and the other one headed out to retrace steps the initial turnaround point. As our OP was talking to the reporting party, the other party was located. This Mission was solved simply.

Both missions are great example of being proactive and not waiting for hours to call for assistance. It takes a significant amount of time for us to gear up and then drive to a Mission location. When it’s at Mt. Adams, it’s going to be a minimum of 3 1/2 to 4 hours before we can get to the parking lot. OP’s are highly medical trained and able to make decisions regarding a persons status to determine if they can potentially assist remotely. This has been very helpful in Missions and we have been able to help people who have had medical issues address them and help people who are lost get to where they need to be. Anytime this happens, a second plan is put in action and moves forward until the time we know the climbers are safe.

We want to remind people that it takes time for us to gear up and travel to most locations. And in certain instances we have access to air support, but they are not always able to assist. Poor weather is one example that prevents them from flying.

If you are going into the back country or on a mountain, please have proper gear, a way to communicate via satellite and a plan for inclement weather or other emergencies.

06/21/2026

Pike and Pivot

The first Tuesday of every month we have an all SAR Training. This has been great as it allow all of our teams to train ...
06/04/2026

The first Tuesday of every month we have an all SAR Training. This has been great as it allow all of our teams to train together; getting to know each other and getting to understand the processes of the other teams.

This month training was on a topic that is consistent throughout all units. The Resiliency Committee facilitated training on the five components of Psychological First Aid and then set up role-plays so members could practice using these components. The best part was getting feedback from the actors on what was helpful.

Note: The first picture shows Sunny, our Therapy Dog. This was his first participation and he did his job well! (I added a few pictures of his other mates from our Dog Team.)

Thank you to Gary, Sandy and Chelan our actors for the role plays.

Beautiful evening for some great training! Thank you City of Yakima Fire Department for allowing us the use of the FireT...
05/30/2026

Beautiful evening for some great training! Thank you City of Yakima Fire Department for allowing us the use of the FireTower for our training! This allows us to train close to home on skills involving high angle rescues!
First, some instruction on the use of the Windless and the Clutches. Both were used in our rescue scenarios.

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Yakima, WA
98907

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