For Rob Martin, trekking up to the craggy peaks of the Sierra Nevada in California and basking in the mountain range’s beauty was a spiritual experience that called to him.
Mr. Martin, 51, drove about six hours from Oakland, Calif., on Aug. 21 and camped under the stars in the Inyo National Forest with a friend.
The next day, Mr. Martin scaled Laurel Mountain, a 11,818-foot mountain, about 50 miles southeast of Yosemite National Park.
Mr. Martin and his friend began their journey inside a gully carved into ancient rock that is, at times, a vertical sheet.
As he climbed, he moved outside the gully because it contained scree, fragments of broken rock.
But he soon realized that he reached a point without a secure grip. Smooth rock surrounded him. He could not climb down or across into the gully.
Any next steps risked his safety. He looped a rope around a rock to secure himself but even that wiggled.
Mr. Martin found a ledge of gray limestone with a jagged edge about six inches wide and a foot long.
Half of the soles of his climbing shoes protruded over the ledge at about 10,600 feet.
“It’s very scary to be in a position where you’re like, One wrong move now, and that’s it. I die,” said Mr. Martin, who has spent nearly his entire life exploring California’s summits and lakes.
He called out to his climbing partner, but the wind drowned him out. “I think I heard him respond, but it also may have been my echo,” Mr. Martin said.
Fear set in.
Mr. Martin called 9-1-1 on a satellite phone, and the Mono County Sheriff Search and Rescue Team was alerted around 1:20 p.m.
But the rescue would not happen for hours.
Mr. Martin saw a California Highway Patrol helicopter whirring above, but a rescuer could not hoist him to safety because the winds were unusually high that day, gusting up to 50 miles per hour, according to the National Weather Service.
Mr. Martin shook out one body part at a time to keep his blood flow going.
“My feet were very tired,” he said. “It was painful at times. It was uncomfortable. My legs were cramping. My feet were cramping. My hands were cramping because I was holding onto this wall.”
Mitch Quiring, a spokesman for the search and rescue team, a volunteer group, said it had deployed numerous rescuers to reach Mr. Martin.
A helicopter dropped off Mr. Quiring and another rescuer on Laurel Mountain.
For more than two hours, rescuers looked for Mr. Martin but could not see him. GPS coordinates from Mr. Martin’s satellite phone were imprecise, Mr. Quiring said.
Rescuers yelled for Mr. Martin, but the wind carried away their shouts.
As the hours ticked by, Mr. Martin worried about being stranded overnight if rescuers could not find him.
The sun was setting. What if he fell asleep and lost his grip? That thought worried him the most.
“That would have been very hard,” he said. “So I tried not to think about that much.”
But then he heard a rescuer’s voice.
“Yo, Rob,” the rescuer called. “Can you see me?”
Mr. Martin looked around, but he could not see anyone. He started shouting, but any response was carried away by the wind.
Mr. Martin then spotted a bright red jacket and unleashed a yell.
“I can see you!” he called.
The rescuer looked straight at him but did not appear to see him, Mr. Martin said. He frantically waved his arms, secured by the rope he had fastened to the protruding rock.
“I still remember the tone in his voice,” Mr. Martin recalled. “It was like a kid at Christmas. He’s like, I can see you.”
The fears he had of staying overnight receded. He was no longer alone.
Rescuers devised a plan to install bolts and ropes into the mountain to save Mr. Martin. The sun had set by the time rescuers began making their way to him.
“I thought at that moment that I would start bawling like a baby,” Mr. Martin said. “I sniffled a bit and I started to shake a little bit.”
After reaching the ground, Mr. Martin, who was not injured, found a hotel and took a shower. In total, Mr. Martin clung to the ledge for more than nine hours.
He credited the search and rescue team with saving his life.
“My gratitude for them is eternal,” he said.
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