Family rescued after getting stuck in snow

AUBURN, Calif. - Incredible video released Monday by the California Highway Patrol, shows the rescue of a family of six, stuck in a remote part of El Dorado County.

The CHP's air unit captured the event.

From the air, finding a white pickup truck in the snow covered Sierra Nevada is no easy task.

"There was a stranded motorist on an isolated road remote area high terrain and they needed help with a search because they weren't sure of where they were exactly."

But CHO pilot Monty Emery says he and his partner, officer David White, were lucky.

The people they were looking for, a father and 5 young adults, had a cell phone service.

"We thought, well we'll call them on a cell phone, so we gave them a call and asked them can you hear us? And they said yes we can hear you. Well let us know if we're louder or quieter, and they're like no you're right over top of us now."

Emery says he could tell the family of six were in bad shape.

"A chain from the wheel flew up and hit the glass shattered it so they were having trouble keeping warm inside the cab with his family."

Emery knew they had little time.

"The way the truck was positioned, their left rear tire was about 3 feet away from the edge of a cliff."

To keep his truck from sliding over that cliff., the father had both feet pressed on his brake... for hours.

Emery and his partner were able to guide other officers from Placerville in on the ground, but even those men had trouble.

"They were slipping a little bit, they actually got to the truck and sat down and slid the rest of the way to the truck because of the ice."

Eventually the officers strapped the truck to a tree, securing it until a tow truck could arrive.