Teenage travelers come together to survive days in a California blizzard

When his 17-year-old son and friend went on a 10-day hike in the mountains of Southern California, Cesar Ramirez said he wasn’t too worried. The teenagers were avid travelers with ample food in their backpacks, a tent and snowshoes, and extensive training and aspirations to join the armed forces.

But when snow began to fall on the mountains east of Los Angeles and Ramirez lost contact with them via the tracking app, he called the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department. They sent a helicopter to the last known location of the boys, followed their tracks, spotted them and rescued them. By then, Ramirez’s son had lost his jacket in the wind and their tent had broken down, the father said.

“They told us, ‘We were already sure we were going to die,'” Ramirez of Cypress, Calif., said.

The spectacular rescue came as California struggled to dig up mountain communities from up to 10 feet (3 meters) of snow after the state was hit by back-to-back storms. Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in 13 counties, including San Bernardino County, where heavy snow closed roads, caused power outages, collapsed roofs and locked residents in their homes for days.

San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Sergeant. John Scalise said the boys had mild hypothermia and were lucky they survived after spending three nights together to keep warm. He said they were well prepared for the hike, but not for the huge amount of snow. “They knew there would be weather. But I don’t think they expected such a sum,” he said.

A separate rescue effort further north in Inyo County on Thursday found a man waving in his partially snow-covered vehicle after the California Highway Patrol identified a cell phone signal associated with him and dispatched a helicopter crew. He left the village of Big Pine and was last heard from on Feb. 24, sheriff’s officials for the county on the east side of the Sierra Nevada said in a statement.

Another severe storm brought more snow to the mountainous regions of Northern California on Saturday, with a winter storm warning in place until early Monday, according to the Sacramento National Weather Service.

In the San Bernardino Mountains of Southern California, authorities are clearing roads and distributing food, water and blankets to snow-stricken residents, and the Red Cross has set up a shelter at a local high school. Snow showers are possible in the region on Sunday, according to the San Diego National Weather Service.

Authorities said some residents could be closed for another week due to problems clearing so much snow.

Kathy Curtis, who lives in the San Bernardino mountain community of Crestline, said she snowshoeed for five miles (eight kilometers) to deliver a canister of gasoline to a family stranded in their home to fuel a generator.

“I’m healthy, so I just thought, well, I can walk, and I did. But it was probably the longest day of my life,” said Curtis, adding that there is someone in the family who needs treatment. The cars are completely covered with earth, and the snow is littered up to the roof of her house.

“We’re just so tired in every way,” she said.

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Associated Press writer Kathleen Ronaine of Sacramento contributed to this report.

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