San Diego Mountain Rescue Team
San Diego Mountain Rescue Team is a volunteer mountain search-and-rescue organization operating under the San Diego County Sheriff's Office.
Last updated August 26, 2026
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Overview
San Diego Mountain Rescue Team (SDMRT) is a volunteer search-and-rescue organization serving San Diego County, California. Rather than a consumer-facing commercial brand, it is a public-service team whose identity is associated with technical mountain rescue, wilderness search, emergency response, and cooperation with law-enforcement and aviation agencies. The team operates under the jurisdiction of the San Diego County Sheriff's Office and routinely works with the Sheriff's Search and Rescue Bureau and Aerial Support to Regional Enforcement Agencies (ASTREA). SDMRT traces its origins to a rescue involving two Claremont College students who attempted to climb Picacho del Diablo, a 10,154-foot mountain in Baja California, in February 1967. When the students failed to return to school, they were reported missing. A week-long search involving mountain-rescue personnel from the Los Angeles area located them in the mountain's upper canyons in severely weakened condition. People involved in that rescue were motivated to establish a dedicated mountain-rescue capability in San Diego, leading to the team's incorporation as a 501(c)(3) organization in 1968. The founding story places the team within the broader development of organized volunteer mountain rescue in the western United States. The team's operational remit includes locating and assisting missing, injured, or stranded people in difficult terrain. Its work can involve mountainous areas, desert environments, remote communities, and other locations where conventional emergency access is difficult. Within San Diego County, SDMRT coordinates with the Sheriff's Office and ASTREA. When it provides mutual aid outside the county, it operates under the law-enforcement agency having jurisdiction in the relevant area. SDMRT has been described as having approximately 70 active members. Its capability is reinforced by accreditation from the international Mountain Rescue Association and recognition as an accredited Type I Mountain Search and Rescue Team. These affiliations indicate a structured technical-rescue role rather than an informal volunteer hiking group, although the available reference material does not provide a detailed roster, budget, training schedule, or organizational leadership history. Documented operations include the team's first operation in April 1967, searches connected with the 2003 Cedar Fire evacuations and the 2007 California wildfires, and several missing-person and lost-hiker responses between 2011 and 2014. Examples include searches in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Mission Valley, Santa Ysabel Mountain, and a response involving a hiker returning from the summit of Mount Whitney. These operations illustrate the geographic and environmental range of the team's activities, from desert and mountain searches to wildfire-related support. SDMRT's public identity is therefore grounded in readiness, technical competence, interagency coordination, and volunteer service. Its principal value is operational rather than commercial: it helps public authorities locate, stabilize, and recover people in remote or hazardous settings. The organization remains active, but the supplied sources do not establish a precise current membership figure beyond the approximately 70 active members cited in the reference material, nor do they document a change in its legal or governmental operating structure.
History
San Diego Mountain Rescue Team developed from a rescue effort in Baja California in 1967. In February of that year, two Claremont College students attempted to climb Picacho del Diablo, the highest mountain in Baja California at 10,154 feet. When they did not return to school, they were reported missing. Mountain-rescue groups from the Los Angeles area conducted a search lasting about a week and found the pair in the upper canyons of the mountain. Both were in severely debilitated condition and required rescue. The people who took part in that operation were inspired to create a dedicated mountain-rescue organization serving the San Diego area. The resulting San Diego Mountain Rescue Team was incorporated as a 501(c)(3) organization in 1968. The team's first operation is listed as having occurred on April 10, 1967, before the formal incorporation date, reflecting the continuity between the initial rescue effort and the organization that followed. SDMRT operates as a volunteer organization under the jurisdiction of the San Diego County Sheriff's Office. Its work is centered on finding and assisting missing, injured, or stranded people in mountainous, desert, and other remote environments. For county operations, it routinely works with the Sheriff's Search and Rescue Bureau and ASTREA, the county's aerial-support organization. When responding to incidents outside San Diego County through mutual aid, SDMRT works under the law-enforcement agency responsible for the jurisdiction where the incident occurs. The team has been described as having approximately 70 active members. It is a fully accredited member of the Mountain Rescue Association and is also recognized as an accredited Type I Mountain Search and Rescue Team. Those affiliations establish the team's place within organized technical search and rescue and distinguish it from an unaffiliated volunteer response group. The documented operational record includes responses over several decades. The team participated in Cedar Fire evacuation operations in October 2003 and supported searches and medical needs during the California wildfires in October 2007. In 2011, listed operations included searches in Mission Valley, a rural community, and Santa Ysabel Mountain. A 2012 response involved a lost hiker in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, while a 2014 operation concerned a hiker returning from Mount Whitney. Together, these examples show that the team works across mountain, desert, wilderness, and wildfire environments. The supplied sources do not provide a complete chronology of leadership, membership changes, funding, equipment procurement, or individual rescue outcomes. They also do not establish a commercial product portfolio because SDMRT is a volunteer public-service organization rather than a conventional product brand. Its institutional history is instead defined by its founding rescue, formal incorporation, accreditation, continuing cooperation with the Sheriff's Office, and participation in search, rescue, evacuation, and mutual-aid missions.
- 2014
Mount Whitney hiker response
[1]The team's documented operations included a response involving a lost hiker returning from Mount Whitney.
- 2012
Anza-Borrego Desert search
[1]SDMRT searched for a lost hiker in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.
- 2011
Multiple missing-person and hiker searches
[1]Documented operations included searches in Mission Valley, a rural community, and Santa Ysabel Mountain.
- 2007
California wildfire search and medical support
[1]The team conducted search and medical-support work during the October 2007 California wildfires.
- 2003
Cedar Fire evacuation support
[1]SDMRT participated in evacuation-related operations during the Cedar Fire.
- 1968
Incorporated as a 501(c)(3)
[1]San Diego Mountain Rescue Team was incorporated as a tax-exempt nonprofit organization.
- 1967
Picacho del Diablo rescue inspires team formation
[1]A search and rescue effort located two missing Claremont College students in the upper canyons of Picacho del Diablo, helping inspire the creation of a dedicated San Diego mountain-rescue organization.
- 1967
First recorded operation
[1]The team's first operation is listed as taking place on April 10, 1967.
Products and positioning
A volunteer, technically accredited mountain search-and-rescue organization providing rapid wilderness response and interagency support under the jurisdiction of the San Diego County Sheriff's Office.
Sources2 sources
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