Yes, as I pointed out in another thread, the occasional expensive high profile search gets a lot of play in the media. And even in the present economy, Aspen isn't exactly an impoverished area. In any case, the fact remains that over all, SAR is mostly done by volunteers. Quoting from the the article at http://www.dps.state.ak.us/PIO/TrooperTimes/ArchiveStories/12.18.07%20Avalanche%20Training.pdf

Alaska State Troopers rely heavily upon these
volunteer search and rescue organizations. By state
statue, the Department of Public Safety is responsible
for overseeing search and rescue operations within
the state. Sometimes that responsibility is shared with
the U.S. Coast Guard or the Air National Guard’s
Rescue Coordination Center. Seventy to 75 percent
of all SAR operations are done by volunteers on
behalf of the DPS and the Alaska State Troopers.
“Without the search and rescue volunteers, the
Alaska State Troopers would be extremely limited on
our ability to do search and rescues across Alaska,”

And

As of 2007, there are 45 volunteer search groups
throughout Alaska...............................
In 2006,volunteer search teams contributed to
more than 13,500 hours of actual search time. This
does not include time volunteers spend training.

(Emphasis mine.) By the way, I was one of the volunteers at that training event. I just didn't get my picture in the article.

Just in King County, in your state of WA, you have eight different volunteer units providng SAR support to King County Sheriff. See http://kcsara.org/units/ for more info. Why don't you consider joining one of those groups? You will learn some valuable skills, and get to hang out with a good bunch of people.