Distinctly Montana Magazine

H E A LT H Y W E L L & F I T S P E C I A L S E C T I O N 65 that is different about Big Sky is that it operates as a separate 501(c3) organiza- tion, which means it can seek funding other than that provided by Gallatin County. For example, it receives money from Big Sky's Resort Tax district, which allows for investment in things like equipment, maintenance and infrastructure. It operates on a rather meager $12,000 average yearly budget. When a call comes into Gallatin County, often through 911, the sheriff's department takes over and a member of that department oversees the mission and acts as incident command. Search and Rescue teams are requested on a mission-by-mission basis and once deployed, a team member is an acting auxiliary officer of the sheriff's office under Montana Law. "The purpose of Search and Rescue is to save lives," says Brandon Kelly, a sergeant with the Gallatin Country Sheriff Department who is based in Big Sky. "Having a facility here with Search and Rescue members allows us to re- act, deploy people, and sustain missions in the Big Sky area more effectively," Devin Heinle, 26, moved to Big Sky in 2015 and joined BSSAR shortly after. Coming from eastern Montana, he wasn't used to the mountainous terrain around the area but was eager to learn more about it. "I guess it was the Boy Scout in me, it sounded kind of fun," he says of why he decided to join. "I've been able to see a lot of the area that I wouldn't have seen otherwise. It's been a huge learning experience." Not every mission is dramatic as last fall's avalanche victim recovery. Many are for lost hikers or non-life-threatening injuries. Heinle responded to one this summer where two young hikers ran out of water on Big Horn Peak in Yellowstone National Park. They "freaked out," says Heinle, and found a spot where they could use a cell phone to call 911. Heinle and a group of others left at five the next morning, hiked more than six miles with food and water, and then helped them walk back out to the trailhead. "No medical assistance was needed," he says. "We were just helping them get out." The missions fluctuate every year, according to Walker, the BSSAR secretary. In 2017 there was a high number of horse-related incidents, while in 2018 there has only been one. This past summer there were many calls related to lost or injured hikers; and a winter with a bad snowpack can make for more avalanche calls and backcountry skier injuries. "I think a lot of people come to Montana and don't realize how wild it is," Walker says. "Out here, when something goes wrong it's a long time before help arrives and most people aren't prepared for that." Whatever the mission, the Big Sky Search and Rescue team is ready. As the snow starts falling, they're making sure the equipment is in good running order and members are up to date on their training and in winter mode. They know a call could come at any time. "They will leave a Christmas Eve dinner to search for missing snowmobilers", says Walker. "They get out of a warm bed at night to find a couple of missing hikers and will stay through the night with an extremely ill camper waiting for a helicopter to arrive. They do all of this because they want to help." Big Sky Search and Rescue team mem- bers use the Teton Litter to transport an injured hiker down the Cinnamon Mountain trail this past summer. Each year the team does a big training with the Big Sky Resort Ski Patrol in the Lone Lake Cirque, near the 11,000-foot summit of the resort's Lone Peak. The team as- sumes a skier has fallen and landed in a cliff portion of the out-of- bounds cirque. Ropes are used to extricate the injured party, tobog- gan him down to the lake, and then ski him to waiting snowmobiles. Big Sky Search and Rescue support's many of the commu- nity events like the in- augural Big Sky Biggie mountain bike race held this past sum- mer. Team members provide basic first aid and transportation of injured racers.

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