by Elaine Stachera Simon

Garrett Hanson’s ’09 résumé reads like an action-hero’s: ski patrol, hotshot, wildland fire coordinator, and Wilderness Medical Associates International instructor. His taste for outdoor adventure was solidified early in life; born and raised in Taos, NM, Garrett grew up skiing, hiking, and rafting, inspired by his father who worked as a river guide in the ’80s.

Fire

At NMSU, Garrett’s friend Chris Schaefer ’08 (owner of Dry Point Distillers in Las Cruces) unknowingly set Garrett on his career path. Chris was working for the Sacramento New Mexico Hotshots — an elite crew of wildland firefighters — and suggested Garrett might like hotshotting. Garrett says, “Chris knew hotshotting would be right up my alley, and after graduation I signed up as a volunteer firefighter with the Village of Taos Ski Valley Fire Department — alongside my dad who also volunteered — to get some experience.”

Just one year later, Garrett was working for the U.S. Forest Service Carson Hotshots: “It was fantastic. I walked into a group of men and women who were like me — hard workers who cuss and spit and love this special kind of suffering and what it brings.” In 2011, Garrett was deployed to the catastrophic Bastrop, TX, wildfire, which destroyed 1,645 homes, burned 34,000 acres, and killed two people. While breathing some of the worst air imaginable, Garrett and two other firefighters saved a dozen homes: “We don’t always get those moments. I was proud of making smart decisions that didn’t put us in compromised positions. We got that job done for those people, and I’m proud of that.”

He hotshotted with Carson for six years, spending the last season fighting fires in Washington and Alaska, but says, “after I had a kid, it got challenging being gone all the time.”

Ice

Garrett left the Forest Service in 2015 to join Taos Ski Patrol, where he continues to serve today as assistant ski patrol director. “I’ve always been a ski junkie, and a lot of hotshotters chase snowstorms all over the West.” Garrett laughs, “But I was married with a kid, and I couldn’t ski five days a week unless I was getting paid to do it!”

Not only does he get paid, but he comes home every day “with a huge smile. Ski patrol is the best job in the world.” Part of his job is avalanche control, but medical services are primarily what the public sees. Garrett recalls a standout moment when he “clicked in” to help a man suffering a heart attack — getting him safely off the slope and into a Santa Fe operating room in less than two hours.

. . . and more fire

The following year, while working as an emergency medical technician for the fire department of the Village of Angel Fire, Garrett learned that the village’s wildland firefighting program had fallen apart. “I had the background and knew I had a great opportunity to rebuild the program. In 2016, I was hired first as wildland fire coordinator and then wildland engine captain.”

Firefighting and hotshotting are “sexy” jobs, but Garrett says wildland firefighting is actually “a lot of digging in the dirt, and hero moments are few and far between.” And hero moments usually come with life-threatening circumstances. During one firefight, Garrett recounts seeing a bulldozer operator working without any direction from a firefighter. “Soon after that, I realized the fire activity was becoming too much and would soon be out of control. I grabbed him and said ‘We’re outta here!’ Not even 10 minutes later, the land he was dozing erupted into a wall of flames. That’s when I realized I knew what I was doing and that I deserved to be in the role I was in.”

Three years later, he went back to the U.S. Forest Service, spending two years in the Camino Real Ranger District in Peñasco, NM, working on their Type 6 (wildland fire) engine.

A niche skill set

In 2022, Garrett started his own business, Enso Wildland Fire Services LLC, through which he performs a multitude of services, including contracting as the wildland fire coordinator for Taos County and Village of Taos Ski Valley, teaching volunteer fire departments throughout the state, serving as an American Heart Association instructor for federal and state agencies in New Mexico, and many more.

Garrett had seen the need in Taos Ski Valley for a wildland firefighting program and again realized he had a unique skill set that could make a difference. “I had a niche. Besides firefighting and leadership skills, I knew how to navigate the state bureaucracy, and I had connections at the relevant federal agencies.”

Garrett proposed building a wildland firefighting program to village officials — and, last summer, the program was officially up and running. Already Garrett has sent an engine out of state to help with national firefighting efforts through the New Mexico Resource Mobilization Plan.

Steve Hoxie, vice president of mountain operations at Taos Ski Valley, was an instructor when Garrett first became a volunteer firefighter, and they’ve been through fire and ice together ever since. “Garrett is a goofball — but an incredibly hard worker driven by his work ethic. His communication skills are one of his biggest strengths. As assistant director of ski patrol, he manages a proud, headstrong group of people doing dangerous work, and Garrett balances hard lines and difficult conversations with a soft approach. That’s a difficult skill to master, but Garrett is a natural.”

NMSU’s role in Garrett’s career

As an NMSU geography major, Garrett’s academics fit perfectly with what he enjoyed: “I took classes about national parks, geomorphology, cultural geography — Professors Jack Wright and Mark Milliorn were exceptional.”

He spent four semesters on the dean’s list and graduated with a 3.8 GPA, but Garrett says, “What was most important for me at NMSU were the people who guided me, led me to firefighting, and gave me an introduction to navigating the world. I’m still best friends with some of these people — the relationships I formed at NMSU have been as valuable as the degree itself.” Garrett concludes, “I get to use everything I’ve trained for my whole life to help people, which is a great feeling. My time at NMSU gave me my baseline and helped me move forward with confidence.”

Garrett’s next big outdoor adventure? Teaching his 10-year-old son whitewater rafting!