Telluride Sheriff Calling $50k per Rescue??

Ah, the wonderful world of cost accounting and fixed vs variable expense analysis. Who'd have thought MountainProject readers would be excited about such things.

My guess is that the marginal cost of any one rescue is probably a lot less than $50k. Yes there may be some overtime pay and some fuel costs and other supplies. But the county doesn't need to go out and hire more employees or buy more vehicles just because one more rescue comes along unexpectedly, assuming the Sheriff's department is properly staffed and equipped to begin with.

But of course somebody has to pay for those salaries, vehicles and equipment. I'm guessing that the Sheriff included those expenses when he came up with his figure of $50k per rescue.

Recovering these expenses is a different matter. Nowhere does the article say that the Sheriff is proposing to charge $50k per rescue. He's just saying that rescues are expensive and his budget is under strain.

s.price wrote: Go volunteer for your local SAR and see if you feel the same. Spend money out of your own pocket, put it on the line for everyone from noobs to "stubborn" climbers every time you go out. Then see how you feel. Being stubborn over concerns of out of pocket expenses is irresponsible to those who give of their time and safety to go get you. May be food for thought but I find it to be inedible.

I have been volunteering for 3 years for my local search and rescue group. I have spent a lot of time and money out of my own pocket and thoroughly understand the argument. My opinion still stays the same. Those people need immediate help and I think that free SAR is a good practice. I agree that being stubborn is irresponsible but that doesn't mean it wont happen if people are forced to pay for their rescues.

T. Maino wrote:So let me get this straight... Some knuckle head sets his house on fire or crashes her car, or breaks his kneck playing football or falls into a frozen lake. EMS responds and mabye they get helo evac'd to a hospital. Nobody has a problem with the state picking up the bill. Some other knucklehead gets stranded on a wall by doing something stupid (or not) and everybody gets upset that the state spent money to pull them off. I really don't see the difference. I would guess that the money we spend on the knuckleheads in the first paragraph dwarfs the money we spend on the knuckleheads in the second paragraph.

+1

Libertarians like to make the argument for pay-for police and fire services, too. Great idea.

There was some sort of a follow up telephone interview clearly stating the sheriff does intend to hold anyone accountable to the tune of $50K per each rescue for the services of that county, which would be regardless of the criminal conduct exception in charge for rescue. Same media -- 9 News.

This would mean even if you're well within your talent ability, doing your best to mitigate risk, using good technical systems, anchors, travel techniques, etc., but something unforeseen happens and you need help, you will be facing a $50K bill based on this policy.

Now do you guys see why I'm writing such a 'WTF' ??

Granted, probably not, we all won't pay it anyway.

What it seems he wants is a pre-paid fee specific to his county that will generate the $50K per each rescue. There are numerous comments that have been placed all over the spectrum. The biggest question is where is this figure coming from that the county is losing $50K every time they engage in a rescue?

As a chairman of a volunteer SAR group I can say this....yes, we do spend a lot of time and money for SAR and, for the most part, we don't get anything back. Dealing with financial issues in SAR is a major pain.....BUT, if charging fees will cause people to not call for help, then I'm not for it. I don't care about them "calling later" and "putting SAR at more risk". We will just deal with whatever comes our way. I want to help those in need, whether its the uninformed "noob" or the "experienced" climber/skier/etc (lets face it, they all get in over their heads). Its how I pay back all the fortunate things I'm given (i.e. access, rescue, parks/wilderness) Yes, we are volunteers...but we choose to do this. We choose to make those financial and time costs. These arguements have been raging for yrs and they will likely not change. Its ok, we will just keep doing our jobs.

This offers a little more info

telluridenews.com/articles/…

I can see his point of view a little better with this. If he is getting put into a position to run high volume due to side-country access that the ski area isn't picking up, then it would seem that he needs those dollars to run an effective deployment program. Adding to the cost of the ski ticket in this matter seems reasonable to me. Or, expand the ski area's license so their patrol takes their own side-country access they created.

Although he still isn't clear how that $50k per rescue came about and why he's been throwing that figure out to the media.

He's probably not charging anything or cost allocating to his county or elsewhere, although you probably would get something on the contracted heli if needed, which he said around $3k, then add the medical, which can be typical.

If Telluride ski area is providing access to that area, then they certainly have a moral, if not legal, obligation to assist with rescues and help defray the cost of those rescues. Don't most ski areas open or close side country gates according to the level of avalanche hazard at a particular time? If people are getting cliffed out on a regular basis in that area, then maybe there shouldn't be a side country/backcountry access gate in that area.

I had to laugh at the line about people expecting air service, and not expecting to be carried out from the back country like before.

Buff, I did not say that NPS or YOSAR charged for rescues. I said that if people needed a rescue because of their own carelessness, they would be issued a citation (the charge is called "creating a hazardous situation"), and that the fine was usually equal to the cost of the rescue. This does not happen to every climber who gets stuck, in fact it's pretty unusual, but climbing parties who have clearly gotten into trouble because of a failure to follow accepted good practice have been cited and fined.