The Brigaded ended 2023 and started 2024 with a series of hurry up then standdown missions. Mission 121 on November 18th 2023 was for an injured hunter near Hopewell Lake. Another team managed to bring the hunter out before Brigade teams arrived at IB. Mission 123 on November 29th found the Brigade mustering for an overdue rancher who had gone out to look for some of his cattle on an ATV. The rancher was found safe before we even left town. New Year’s Eve we were called for missing hikers on Cerro Pedernal. The hikers made it back to camp on their own before we left town. Finally, January 15th 2024 a Brigade team made it to the La Luz trailhead at the base of the Sandia Mountains in time to watch the State Police helicopter ABLE 7 (spotter) and the Air National Guard Helicopter Lobo (lift) work together to lift one of the hikers out while a second hiker walked out with the help of other SAR teams. The third hiker walked out on their own.
Many thanks to all the Brigade members who participated in these missions and many thanks to the other teams who actually went out in the cold and wet to bring folks in distress home.