March 4th finds Taos Search and Rescue gearing up to rescue a male and his dog who had been out overnight and was floundering in the snow at 12,000 feet in the mountains above Taos New Mexico. Concerned the mission could require considerable effort, the Incident Commander requested additional resources from outside of Taos. Four members from the Brigade with strong backcountry snow experience responded. By the time the Brigade was half way to Incident Base the Taos teams had made contact with the subject and determined he could walk out and additional resources would not be needed. The Brigade was asked to stand down and return home happy that the subject and his canine companion were going to be ok.
Late in the night on March 7th we learn that a shed hunter has been missing west of Questa New Mexico since around 2:00 p.m. With over 20 square miles of area to search the Incident Commander decides a good first approach is to send 4×4 and off road vehicles to the area to cover the many roads in the area looking for the subject but also to make lots of noise to attempt to attract the subject. As the night of the 7th rolls into the 8th and with the State Police already searching the roads the Incident Commander asks us to wait until day break to respond. Fortunately the State Police located the subject in good condition around 3:00 a.m. and those that had volunteered to respond didn’t have to leave our warm homes.