Albuquerque Mountain Rescue warns hikers to prepare for dangerous summer heat

A short hike in the Sandia foothills can become a rescue once the sun drops, the water runs low and the phone battery gives out. As spring warms into summer, Albuquerque Mountain Rescue is warning hikers to treat even close-in trails like real backcountry trips, with heat-related calls expected to replace the winter problems that dominated colder months.

Steve Larese, the council’s public-relations chair, said the team is preparing for a very hot summer and expects hyperthermia, field cooling and carry-outs to be part of the workload. He said the winter season had been “fairly slow,” but the shift to warmer weather is already changing the kind of emergencies the volunteer crew expects to see in the Albuquerque hills. His message was blunt: pack plenty of snacks and water, tell someone exactly where you are going, make sure a phone or navigation device is fully charged, and carry a backup battery if you are relying on electronics.

The warning lands hard in a city where the trails can feel deceptively close. A route that sounds quick on paper can take longer than expected, and once daylight fades, a weak signal or a dim phone flashlight can make self-rescue much harder. That is the kind of mistake Mountain Rescue says it sees over and over when hikers underestimate spring conditions and assume the same planning they use for a neighborhood walk will work on the mountain.

The wider search-and-rescue system behind those calls is tightly organized. New Mexico State Police says all search-and-rescue missions in the state are controlled by State Police, with 911 calls routed through local agencies or state police before volunteer teams are notified. The New Mexico Department of Public Safety also publishes formal search-and-rescue policies and operating procedures. Albuquerque Mountain Rescue itself is made up entirely of volunteers, and the organization says fundraisers help replace ropes, carabiners, hard gear and medical supplies.

The scale of the problem has been steady for years. In a previous account, the council said it rescues about 80 hikers a year, a reminder that the Sandias and nearby trails are not casual strolls once weather, elevation and timing start working against people. A January 2024 La Luz Trail rescue involved three hikers who were cold, hypothermic and not properly equipped for the snow, drawing in New Mexico State Police air support, Albuquerque Police Department Open Space, Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office Open Space, Bernalillo County Fire Department and Cibola Search and Rescue. Another report from 2023 described a stranded Sandia Mountains hiker who needed snowshoes and coordinated help from Albuquerque Mountain Rescue and other agencies. In the spring-to-summer transition, the lesson is simple: the margin for error in the Sandias is still smaller than many hikers think.