Teen rescued from ledge near Auburn

COOL (AP) — Rescuers plucked a teenager from the ledge of an old limestone quarry Monday after she survived a night in frigid temperatures.

A state parks ranger spotted 17-year-old Snow Tomak just after midnight, but rescuers had to wait until daylight because of the terrain’s steepness. Tomak was lifted from the ledge by a California Highway Patrol helicopter about 7 a.m.

“It’s rugged terrain. We realized there was no way to get to her,” ranger Scott Struckman said. “It was too narrow and too steep — with 100 feet drop-offs on either side of her — to attempt anything at night.”

On Sunday, the teenager and a friend had climbed more than 100 feet up boulders near the Quarry Road Trail, part of a state recreation area just east of Auburn in the Sierra foothills. After the climb, she hurt her hands on steel cables trying to get back down and sent her friend for help.

“She was too weak, too tired to get out,” Struckman said. “She tried to climb the cable three times and fell each time.”

Tomak was taken to a hospital, where she was treated with stitches to close the cuts in her hands.