Riverside Mountain Rescue Unit

31May2026

Team members went up to Idyllwild, CA, to practice technical rope work and implementing the pike and pivot technique.
Many team members also got a variety of Type-I and Type-II sign offs.
Sign offs included:
-Operations Lead
-Edge Attendant
-Line Attendant
-First Responder Medical
-Land Navigation

RMRU is an all volunteer mountain rescue team. We specialize in high angle rock, helicopter, and snow & ice rescues in Riverside California.

Learn more at: https://rmru.org/

Thank you to all who donate and support. What we do wouldn't be possible without you.

Saturday 10 May, 2026

In partnership with the Riverside Sheriff's Office Aviation Unit, RMRU performed a Helitack Training in order to re-familiarize members with helicopter operations for insertion and extraction.

Topics trained and/or discussed included:

•Aircraft Safety
•2-Ups
•Litter Hoisting
•Tagline procedures
•Individual Hoisting and Lowers
•Hover-Steps
•Patient Management

The Riverside Mountain Rescue Unit was proud to participate in the 3rd annual Idyllwild Trail Festival.

Our team connected with PCT hikers, trail angels, locals, and visitors throughout the day. The team was able to provide insights into mountain rescue operations, technical rock and winter gear capabilities, and demonstrated our new vacuum spine immobilization equipment obtained through gracious community donations.

We were grateful for the overwhelming support and the many meaningful conversations.
A special thank you to Nomad Ventures for hosting this outstanding event and generously donating proceeds to both RMRU and the Fowler-O’Sullivan Foundation.
Your continued support directly strengthens our mission of serving the community.

Interested in joining RMRU? Visit www.rmru.org to learn more about becoming a member and help make a difference in backcountry rescue.

Participating members: Richard Yocum, Will Pendleton, Jon Butler, Ed Gelabert

Founded in 1961, RMRU celebrates its 65th year of serving Riverside County. Proudly honoring the mottos of "Courage, Commitment, Compasion" and "So Others May Live".

RMRU spent our Sunday at Big Rock working on those technical rock rescue skills. Low angle slab is much harder to work with a litter than dead vertical, and Big Rock is all about that low angle slab.

Good work RMRU. The team passed our technical rock reaccreditation with the MRA.

A few members of the team practiced technical rock training with a small group. With only two people manning the ropes, they had to conduct a lower and a raise of a two person load.

Throwback Thursday! Did you know we have our newsletters published on our website going all the way back 1965?

Check them out here:
https://rmru.org/portfolio/

Riverside Mountain Rescue Unit is an all-volunteer, professional, unpaid non-profit 501(c)(3) organization. All donations go directly to team training, equipment, and supplies. https://rmru.org/donate/

With this being one of the warmest winters on record, the team traveled north to the Sierras to participate in their annual Winter Shakedown. The team practiced snow anchors, self-arrests, avalanche seach patterns, and general snow travel skills.