DENVER — Behind a series of videos illustrating the labor of Colorado search and rescue teams is one man's grief that led to advocacy for the work those teams do when they're called to the backcountry.
Brian Chambliss lost his dad in a tragic incident in the Rocky Mountains in July 2019. Amid the sorrow, he learned about the state's search and rescue (SAR) teams, which played an enormous role in recovering the body. And his eyes were opened to all that they do as he watched Alpine Rescue Team volunteers scour the mountain to ensure Brian's family could bring him home.
On the worst day of people's lives, Colorado's backcountry SAR organizations — like Alpine Rescue Team — can bring hope and closure, but also relief for loved ones, who may not realize that volunteer teams provide the life-changing assistance without charge.
Brian wanted to somehow give back to the organization that had done so much for his family and his father, and as the owner of the videography company Plugged In Productions, it seemed clear that he could gift them a promotional video.
It quickly became much more than just one video.
In wake of tragedy, "you're not going to get a bill"
Brian's father, Don Chambliss, started mountain climbing in the late 1990s, and that kicked off a love for the sport.
"He had climbed mountains all over the world and was very experienced, very knowledgeable, very safe," Brian remembered, adding that his father had summited Aconcagua, Denali and Cho Oyu, and was a longtime member of the Colorado Mountain Club.
He was preparing to climb Mont Blanc in Switzerland.
But on July 16, 2019, Don, 71, headed up Kelso Ridge, a challenging route up to the 14,000-foot-plus summit of Torreys Peak. Somewhere along the way, something went wrong. He fell and his life ended several stories below.
Brian's family grew concerned when they didn't hear from him and they called the Clear Creek County Sheriff's Office. Officials alerted the Alpine Rescue Team, which covers Jefferson County, Gilpin County and Clear Creek County.
The sheriff's mobile command center was set up at the bottom of the road that leads to the trailhead. A few dozen people scoured the mountain. Multiple helicopters buzzed above, circling. Brian recalled driving up to the trailhead each morning and staying into the evening before driving back home.
While Brian and his family held onto hope, he could feel another pressure building — what would all of this cost?
"By the end of the search, I was like, ‘This is going to be hundreds of thousands of dollars that we're going to get bills for,'" he said.
Just after noon on July 18, 2019, Alpine Rescue Team spotters found his father's body around 13,500 feet near Dead Dog Couloir. The following day, Alpine Rescue Team reached him and lowered him to a helicopter, which flew him off the mountain.
Before everybody cleared out, Brian approached the sheriff, preparing for more terrible news.
"And I said, ‘I just got to know: Who should we be expecting a bill from?’" he recalled asking the sheriff. "And to my surprise, the sheriff said, ‘Nobody. You're not going to get a bill from us, and you're also not going to get a bill from the Alpine Rescue Team.’"
He could barely believe it. His family wouldn't pay a dime for the enormous effort put forth on the ground to find Don.
SAR teams were not, in fact, firefighters, police officers and employees of the state with cushy salaries and great pensions, like he had previously thought. They were volunteers with top-tier outdoor expertise and kind, dedicated hearts.
Their work allowed Brian's family to find closure as they began to navigate a new future without Don.
"My late father — he was an incredible man," Brian said. "Probably the strongest influence of anybody I've ever met in my life was my father. Very kind soul, very gentle soul, also a very strong soul. And so, I learned a lot from him, and I'm so glad that I was able to have him as a wonderful role model in my life."
"I really want to give back to the team"
Just like Brian's beloved memories of his father, the significant aid from the Alpine Rescue Team stuck with him.
He had learned back in 2019 that all SAR in Colorado is volunteer-based, meaning hundreds if not thousands of volunteers donate their own time, money, fuel and resources to go out to rescue missions and trainings. As an important note, this is separate from the organizations responsible for medical transport via ambulance or helicopter.
Watch our interview with Brian and hear about what led him to support Colorado search and rescue teams in the video below.
Across the state, SAR teams respond to nearly 3,000 incidents every year adding up to about 400,000 volunteer hours, according to stats from the Colorado Search and Rescue Association (CSAR), the statewide nonprofit that brings about 50 organizations together to plan rescues and recoveries in the backcountry.
"There's just this massive group of people in the state who are just, in my opinion, the most selfless people that we have," he said. "... And so after I had realized that, I was like, 'I really want to give back to the team, and then search and rescue in Colorado in general.'"
As a videographer, the obvious way to do that was to produce and donate video content. He reached out to Alpine Rescue Team and created a short film in 2020 to highlight their efforts and introduce the team to a bigger audience.
That film, called "The Art of Rescue," was difficult, but something Brian said he was thrilled to do. He submitted it to about 30 film festivals, was accepted into about half of them and won Best Documentary Short at the Los Angeles Reel Film Festival.
It won an award of merit at The IndieFEST Film Awards and was a finalist at the New York Istanbul Short Film Festival.
During a few Q&A sessions at the festivals, he shared what he had learned about SAR in the wake of his dad's death, and said the audience was constantly shocked that the Colorado teams are volunteers.
More recently, starting in 2022, he started working pro bono alongside CSAR to create a series of videos called Trailblazers and Lifesavers.
"And I was thrilled to hear from him," said Anna DeBattiste, CSAR's program manager for public information and education. "We hopped on a call and started brainstorming, and he had this idea for the Trailblazers and Lifesavers video series. It was really his brainchild."
Each of the four videos — two of which have been release — are geared for beginners and intermediate adventurers and highlights a popular outdoor activity and a place well-known for it: "We went to Vail Pass with backcountry skiing. We went whitewater rafting in Buena Vista. We did some hiking down in Pagosa Springs, and then we did some rock-climbing up in Boulder," Brian said.
In each, SAR volunteers stage an operation.
"We start these videos by basically showing people what they can expect at the location," he continued. "So, how long is the hike time? What is the difficulty level? What equipment do you need to bring you? It’s things that you can do to be successful. And then we close each video with kind of a more safety-focused message on things that they can do to actually stay safe while they're out there."
"The idea of the series is to showcase a recreational activity in a specific location... And once people are interested in that content, then you get into: here's how you do it safely," DeBattiste added.
She said she was "blown away" by the quality of the production, and explained how this series feeds into CSAR's mission for backcountry safety education by proactively educating recreationists. This not only helps adventurers be more prepared as they head outdoors, but it also teaches them that they won't get billed if they need to call SAR — and therefore, if they get into a tough spot, they shouldn't hesitate to make that call for help.
How you can help — in case you're the one in need
The state's SAR teams are widely underfunded, and Brian said he hopes his videos bring more awareness to the important services they offer to bring in some donations.
"This is what my video campaign has been trying to really target — how to bring more awareness to SAR, how to bring more interest in it, how to get them more funding," he explained. "Because they have their own equipment that they need, and they have these expensive trucks and all this training that they do. So it takes money, right?"
And with more and more people coming to Colorado specifically for the outdoors, according to the U.S.A. Travel Visitor Profile, that means the likelihood of somebody needing emergency help is growing.
With four Trailblazers and Lifesavers videos done, both Brian and CSAR are now looking for funding to keep the series going.
"We have many, many ideas of future videos that we want to produce in partnership with more teams across the state, showcasing more activities and more locations," DeBattiste said. "But it's not sustainable as a pro bono venture forever. We've got to go out for funding, and we're hoping that we might find some private funders or some tourism-related organizations that are interested in helping us."
Those interested in helping to fund the video project can email contact@coloradosar.org.
Denver7 is sharing these other ways to help as well:
- Purchasing a Colorado Outdoor Recreation Search and Rescue card (CORSAR) helps reimburse Colorado SAR teams for costs that build during operations, as well as required equipment and training. They are available for $5 for one year or $20 five years.
- The Keep Colorado Wild Pass to enter Colorado state parks, which is now available to buy along with a renewed car registration, partially supports Colorado SAR teams.
- CSAR accepts direct donations, as does the teams from each county
In the past six years since his father fell from Kelso Ridge, Brian said he has interacted with countless members of SAR around Colorado. And the experience has changed his life.
"They really are the most amazing people that I have met," he said. "I mean, every single one of them. I'm always amazed by the caliber of individual who spends so much time volunteering to help strangers. So, I can't say enough good things about search and rescue. I hope everybody stays safe. But if you do need it, they are there, and please call them if you need them."
