Building a Safer PNW: Expanding SAR Training and Community Readiness
Wild Sky Guides is continuing our partnership with Olympic Mountain Rescue and building new relationships with Tacoma Mountain Rescue in 2026.
May 13th, 2026
The Pacific Northwest canyoning community seems set to experience an incredible summer of growth. If you’ve been paying attention to the buzz within our local community training organizations, you’ve likely noticed the same trend we have: this year is bringing a large influx of introductory students into the sport.
It is exciting to welcome so many new faces to the beauty of our local canyons. However, this potential growth also changes the landscape of our community. This season, there will undoubtedly be more teams in our canyons operating with less average experience, aka beginners leading beginners. With this rapid growth comes a shared responsibility to ensure we are prepared for the “what-ifs.”
Addressing Critical SAR Training Deficits:
To meet this growing need, a coalition of local professionals and community leaders has formed to deliver a comprehensive training pipeline for this critical instruction. Wild Sky Guides, Kraken Whitewater are continuing our partnership to continue our investment in training regional Search and Rescue (SAR) teams for canyoning and vertical swiftwater rescue—an effort we’ve proudly been dedicated to for years.
Bridging the Gap: A Pipeline for SAR Training
As the first step in this pipeline, Wild Sky Guides is proud to sponsor the introductory tier of the program. This season, our partnership is hosting our 2nd Level 1 SAR Canyoning training for Olympic Mountain Rescue (OMR). As we continue to build on that strong foundation, we have some huge news; Tacoma Mountain Rescue (TMR) is officially joining the effort and will have members completing their Level 1 training with us this year!
To ensure responders receive the absolute best instruction in the world, this pipeline culminates with a second year, Level 2 training run by Peak Rescue. By bringing them in, we guarantee our local SAR teams have access to world-class training organizations. We are incredibly excited to announce that this year will mark the 3rd Peak Rescue Canyon Rescue for Professionals course hosted in our region.
The Goal: A Predictable Community
Our overarching plan is to get as many regional SAR team members as possible trained in the basics of canyoning. But this initiative goes far beyond just teaching them how to rig a contingency anchor or manage swiftwater.
We are immersing them in how our community operates. We are familiarizing them with RopeWiki, our standard logistics, typical in-canyon practices, and our emergency communication protocols. By teaching SAR teams how we behave, we make our community predictable for them. When SAR teams understand our baseline, they can deploy rescues much more safely, rapidly, and effectively.
How You Can Help: Update RopeWiki for SAR
This is where we need the help of the broader PNW canyoning community. Because SAR teams are now learning to utilize the same resources we do, the quality of our beta directly impacts their ability to execute a rescue.
As you go canyoning this season and make updates to RopeWiki, please be intentionally mindful of SAR operations. Take the time to include emergency exits, identify Helicopter Extraction Points (HEPs), and note other critical, rescue-pertinent information. Let’s ensure that if a SAR team ever has to enter a canyon to help one of our own, they are operating with the most accurate, comprehensive information possible.
A Special Thank You
None of this would be possible without the dedication of the individuals working behind the scenes to make it happen. We want to extend a massive thank you to Terry from OMR for his continued leadership and commitment to bringing this training to his team. A huge thank you to Brent Roth from Kraken Whitewater for his expertise and tireless work as our lead instructor. And finally, a warm welcome and deep gratitude to Andrew and Gretchen from TMR for spearheading Tacoma’s involvement and helping us expand this critical safety network.
Thank you all for your dedication to the PNW canyoning community!