ICAR Montreux October 2022

Our story

The Swiss Alpine Rescue (SAS) are a team of mountain rescue volunteers who go out in all weathers 24hrs a day 7 days a week to save those who maybe stranded, lost or injured in the mountains.

This group of unsung hero's are not paid to train and often fund their own training and equipment in order to be able to rescue others.

Maintaining global best practice

Part of their training depends on global best practice which is collected world wide and then shared via an NGO called ICAR (International Commission for Alpine rescue).

Every year ICAR runs a congress to share its findings from its various commissions being:

Terrestrial rescue

Air rescue

Avalanche rescue

Alpine emergency medicine

Dog handlers

The connection between ICAR and SAS

In October 2022 the SAS have been asked to host the 73rd ICAR congress in Montreux. As you can imagine it's a great privilege to be able to invite and host approximately 500 mountain rescuers from all over the world to share life saving knowledge in this way. However In order to make this as successful as possible there are some cost implications.

What will the funds be used for?

The SAS are reaching out to corporations for sponsorship but would also like to open up the opportunity for individual donations. This congress will have a direct impact on mountain rescue techniques used not only here in Switzerland, but also by the mountain rescue community around the world.

Delegates are responsible for their own travel and accommodation to and in Switzerland. The funds we raise will be used to finance:

The congress centre

The practical day

The local event

Meals and materials

What happens in the case of postponement or cancellation?

Should the congress be postponed the funds will be used to run the event at a later date. Should the event be cancelled the funds will be used to help finance training and equipment for member rescue stations of the Secours Alpin Romand (SARO).