Internationale Kommission für Alpines Rettungswesen

The International Commission for Alpine Rescue (ICAR) was founded in 1948. ICAR is incorporated as an association under Swiss law, with its seat in Kloten, Switzerland. It is an independent, worldwide organization whose mission is to provide "a platform for mountain rescue and related organizations to disseminate knowledge with the prime goal of improving mountain rescue services and their safety". ICAR currently has 85 member organizations in 34 countries worldwide. The main common language is English, with German and French being official ICAR languages too. ICAR does not pursue any commercial purposes and is not profit oriented.

The top organizational body is the ICAR Assembly of Delegates, where member organizations are represented by delegates (number of delegates depending on the type of membership). The ICAR Assembly of Delegates usually takes place in October upon the annual ICAR Convention, which is alternately organized by one of its member organizations.The ICAR Assembly of Delegates appoints members for the ICAR Executive Board (President, Vice-President, Treasury, Technical Commission Presidents and Assessors, all of them volunteers), which takes care of the daily business through the year. For administrative tasks (correspondence, web-mastering) there is an ICAR Office, staffed 12 hours weekly, located at Zürich Airport in Switzerland, financed in equal parts by ICAR and the member ARS Alpine Rettung Schweiz (Alpine rescue Switzerland), hosting it. ICAR has 4 Technical Commissions, which develop and publish the recommendations which are published on the ICAR website. Together these commissions cover all aspects of mountain rescue:

The ICAR Terrestrial Rescue Commission is concerned with all aspects of technical ground search and rescue techniques, particularly in mountainous environments. Terrestrial rescue is essentially a transportation issue, getting patients from a place of predicament to a place of care, and there is a broad array of terrain types and conditions to which rescue teams respond, and consequently the technical systems are varied and diverse. Our main task is providing an environment whereby the collective international knowledge, experience, and methodology can be shared. The ICAR Terrestrial Rescue Commission meets annually and has an elected president and vice-president. A key theme or topic is chosen annually whereby an exchange of information, presentations, demonstrations and experiences occurs. Where there is interest in further examination of topics, a working group made up of volunteer delegates is formed and the findings are presented to the commission. This work may lead to consensus based recommendations. The ICAR Terrestrial Rescue Commission also has overlap with the ICAR Avalanche Rescue Commission where there is common interest, such as avalanche rescue techniques and systems, and a portion of the meetings are held jointly. Additionally, the ICAR Terrestrial Rescue Commission and the ICAR Avalanche Rescue Commission alternately organize a practical field demonstration day prior to the annual conference, open to all commissions. Evacuation of subjects often occurs by helicopter once ground based rescuers have accessed and stabilized the subject for transport. As such, there are also common cross-over challenges between terrestrial rescue, air rescue and medical aspects. For that an ICAR process is in place, whereby the respective commissions can jointly work on these challenges.

...
Wikipedia