GREIM
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The Grupos de Rescate e Intervención en Montaña (GREIM) (English: Mountain Rescue and Intervention Groups) of the Spanish Civil Guard are the successors to the old Skiing-Climbing Groups founded in 1967.
History
After the Spanish Civil War, under the Law of 15 March 1940, the Carabineros Corps charged with protecting the borders against smuggling became part of the Civil Guard. They created Border Commands responsible for sealing the Pyrenees and the Spanish-Portuguese border. During the first years of their existence, the Commands were faced with incursions by Maquis who infiltrated with subversive propaganda and materiel for use in acts of sabotage inside Spanish territory. The only way to establish effective surveillance over the border was by training the forces to ski so that during the winter the border passes could be properly monitored.
Beginning in 1945, the members of the 223rd Border Command of Jaca, who patrolled the Aragonese Pyrenees, attended ski instruction organized by the 51st and 52nd divisions of the army. In 1954 the training program was separated from army oversight, and ski courses began to be held at the Coll de Ladrones in the Aragon Valley, attended by members of the Border Commands of Pamplona, Tremp, and Figueras, which, together with the Jaca command, provided full coverage for the Pyrenees border.
In 1967 the sport of mountaineering began to rebound after the hiatus effectively imposed by the Civil War. The emerging Spanish middle class began to enjoy the natural beauty of the mountains, and began suffering the first accidents. The Mountain Aid Groups of the Spanish Mountaineering Federation (FEM) have, since 1956, done a commendable job of rescuing accident victims, but their performance was slowed down because existing channels of communication were poor, and because they needed permission to do their work, as the people giving aid weren't professionally qualified.
On 11 March 1967 the official bulletin of the Civil Guard announced the creation of the specialty of Skier-Climber. The first course would be held at the Coll de Ladrones, with a module in skiing and a module in climbing. Both modules would include experience in rescue and first aid. In September of 1967, they organized a deployment that had little success initially, since it was claimed that the guards were performing service in the posts and would come to the rescue only when accidents occur, without a period of training and keeping their technical level. This first unsuccessful attempt resulted in a reflection by the commanders of the Civil Guard that established the first three units concentrating the first specialists in the new units that were created on 1 November 1968 in Jaca and Boltanya in the province of Huesca and in Granada.