Winter Weekend 2024

Search and rescue missions don't wait for good weather.

So neither do we.

Proactively training in challenging environments is the best way to ensure our search and rescue teams have everything they need to thrive, no matter how daunting a mission is.

That's why 128 Civil Air Patrol members from around the country enrolled in the 2024 Winter Weekend at Hawk Mountain Ranger School. Over the course of two days, students practiced their skills in below-freezing temperatures and freshly-fallen snow.

Courses ranged from introductory to special advanced, with a course for everyone, no matter their level or prior skill or experience.

From survival skills to rescue operations to search management, students learned what they need to know to operate effectively as a member of a search and rescue team, even in the most difficult of conditions.

The weekend is a challenge to overcome in itself, inspiring confidence in participants. After all, if they can build a fire or evacuate a patient in six inches of snow, they can do it anywhere.

But more than that, it's an opportunity for Civil Air Patrol Rangers to bolster the emergency services program around the nation. It's our hope that each attendee takes the skills they learn back to their home units to build their emergency services programs, teach fellow team members, and lead those teams in the field in the most challenging, protracted, and austere search environments.