Volunteers rescue climber stranded on small ledge in California's Sierra Nevada

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MAMMOTH LAKES, Calif. (AP) — Volunteers carried out a more than 15-hour operation to rescue a man who got off route in the Sierra Nevada and was stranded on a small ledge, the Mono County Sheriff Search and Rescue Team said.

A four-person team carried out the rescue last weekend near Mammoth Lakes, California, in a precarious gully. The challenge came in having no time to spare with thousands of feet of vertical exposure below, said team spokesperson Mitchell Quiring.

The stranded climber had only one foot fully on the 6-inch (15-centimeter) ledge and was shaking out his legs and switching them to avoid tiring, said Quiring, who was part of the rescue team.

“Any fall would almost certainly be fatal,” the team wrote on its Facebook page.

Quiring said he credits the climber, Rob Martin, with having the strength and will to live.

“He was not going to give up. He was going to push until there was a solution,” Quiring said. “It’s what we train for, so there’s a lot of trust in leaning back on that.”

The volunteer group has long trained to carry out technical rescues. The rescuers are among those dispatched the Mono County Sheriff's Office in the Sierra Nevada, about 200 miles (322 kilometers) east of San Francisco.