Stranded climbers rescued

GOVERNMENT CAMP, Ore. – Three climbers stranded on Mount Hood after a fall were rescued Monday after spending the night amid ferocious winds and blowing snow.\n“Their condition is very good at this time,” Russell Gubele, coordinating communications for the rescue operation, told CNN.\n“They were located in the area where their mountain locator units suggested that they were, and we finally got some of our rescuers down there to them,” he said. “They are fine. They are being warmed up right now and fed by our rescuers.”\nThe three well-equipped climbers, two women and a man, fell off a ledge Sunday.\nGubele said the three were not badly injured and could walk out of the area themselves. “They’re going to walk down,” he said, adding that authorities hoped to pick them up with a rescue vehicle.\nHe said the three were found huddling with their dog Velvet. They had sleeping bags and mats, he said, and were under some rocks, huddled up trying to keep warm.\nGubele said the climbers’ mountain locator unit helped rescuers find their position and they stayed in contact because the climbers had a cell phone.\n“We knew where they were,” he said. “The weather was really bad. It was a matter of getting the teams down there to them, which we were finally able to do in these severe weather conditions and extreme avalanche conditions.”\nRescuers were hoping to get the three out before another storm, with 12 to 16 inches of snow, was due to arrive Monday.\nEarlier Monday, rescuers moved into the White River Canyon, where the climbers took shelter behind rocks during the night. Some of the rescuers spent the night on the mountain. They decided to wait to set out until daybreak because with winds up to 70 mph, they couldn’t see anything, Gubele said, and “it’s extremely treacherous up where they are. One false step could be not good.”\nThe three who fell were part of an eight-person party that set out on Saturday, camped on the mountain that night, and then began to come back down on Sunday when they ran into bad weather, officials said.\nAs they were descending, the three slipped off a ledge and fell about 100 feet. Someone in the party placed an emergency call to authorities.\nThe three had gotten into their sleeping bags Sunday to stay warm and cuddled up with their black Lab, Gubele said.\n“They also have a Labrador dog with them that is cuddled up with them to help them keep warm,” Gubele told AP Broadcast News. “My understanding is that they are experienced rock climbers, but not necessarily experienced in mountain climbing.”\nStill, officials were worried.\n“There’s always danger of exposure on Mount Hood,” Gubele said.\nThe five other members of the their climbing party were rescued Sunday and taken down to Timberline Lodge, a ski resort at the 6,000-foot level of Mount Hood, and all are reported in good condition, the sheriff’s office said in an e-mail.