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GOVERNMENT CAMP, Ore. (AP) - Three climbers who fell from a ledge on snowy Mount Hood got into their sleeping bags and huddled with a dog for warmth early Monday as rescuers zeroed in on their position despite blowing snow and ferocious winds.

Russell Gubele, who was coordinating communications for the rescue operation, said a rescue team had reached the general area where the three climbers had found shelter behind rocks.

"They're not far away from the climbers," he said.

But rescue teams decided to camp out and resume their push at daylight because they can't seen anything and "it's extremely treacherous up where they are. One false step could be not good."

Battling winds up to 70 mph and blowing snow, rescue teams had worked through the night trying to locate the climbers.

Rescuers hadn't made visual contact with the three climbers - two women and a man - but were in cell phone communication with them. Gubele said rescuers last had cell phone contact with the trio at 3:28 a.m. Monday.

The three had gotten into their sleeping bags to stay warm, sheltering behind some rocks as rescuers worked through the night, Gubele said.

"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."

"They are conscious; we are talking to them," Gubele said.

Still, officials were worried.

"There's always danger of exposure on Mount Hood," Gubele said.

At least one of the three had a mountain locator unit, which emits signals used to find missing or stranded climbers. Rescuers were using the signals to try to locate the trio's precise position.

"They're wet, shivering and cold," said Jim Strovink, a spokesman for the Clackamas County Sheriff's office. "Hopefully we'll be able to home right in on their exact location."

Sgt. Sean Collinson, a spokesman for the Clackamas County Sheriff's office, said the two women appeared to have suffered some bumps and bruises and their male companion is in good condition. He said all three "were in fairly good spirits when we talked to them on the phone."

The drama began shortly before noon, when someone in an eight-person climbing party called emergency dispatchers to say three of the climbers had fallen off a cliff.

The climbing mishap occurred at about the 8,300-foot level on the mountain, which is about 60 miles east of Portland.

Battling snow and winds that exceeded 70 mph, a team of rescue mountaineers scrambled up the mountain to search. The other members of the party were told to dig a snow cave and wait for help.

Authorities said the climbers' electronic locator device helped rescuers find them. One of the devices was activated after the fall, authorities said.

The three climbers who fell were found near the five others, authorities said. The five were 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.

One of the five is Trevor Liston of Portland.

In a brief press conference at the lodge, Liston said he was optimistic for the chances of his three companions still on the mountain: "So far, they're doing pretty good up there from what we've heard."

Liston, who did not give his age, said he saw the three fall but didn't say how it happened. The names of the other climbers have not been released.

The mountain can be treacherous, particularly in the winter.

In December, search teams scoured Mount Hood for days in the hopes of finding a group of missing climbers alive. The bodies of Brian Hall, of Dallas, and Jerry "Nikko" Cooke, of New York, have not been found. Another climber in their group, Kelly James, of Dallas, died of hypothermia.

In the past 25 years, more than 35 climbers have died on the 11,239-foot mountain, one of the most frequently climbed mountains in the world.

Dinsdale wrote: What the fuck is wrong with people? Darwin lives.

Wolfman wrote:I saw the news cliip on TV today and thought
it was a rerun from a while back !!

Dinsdale wrote:What the fuck is wrong with people? Darwin lives.

timmay wrote:I had to take an epic piss at the Mt Hood brewery

Dinsdale wrote:

timmay wrote:I had to take an epic piss at the Mt Hood brewery

...but timmay is usually drinking at elevation

Dinsdale wrote: RACK partying in the Village. RACK pulling the only single chicks on the mountain on a tuesday night not-in-ski-season. RACK being taken back to their mansion-on-the-mountain. UNRACK puking all over the place after I got there...smoooove game.

GOVERNMENT CAMP, Ore. - Three climbers who tumbled off a ledge on Mount Hood were taken away in an ambulance after they hiked down much the state's highest peak with their rescuers — and a dog who may have saved their lives.
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"We're soaking wet and freezing," said one of two rescued women as she walked from a tracked snow vehicle to an ambulance. Authorities have not released their names, and it was unclear where the ambulance was taking them.

Rescuers using an electronic locating device found the three climbers and their black Labrador, Velvet, in the White River Canyon on Monday morning, where they had holed up overnight at about 7,400 feet, officials said.

The crew then hiked down the 11,239-foot mountain, Oregon's highest, with the climbers. Lower down, they climbed aboard the vehicle.

"The dog probably saved their lives" by lying across them during the cold night, said Erik Brom, a member of the Portland Mountain Rescue team. He described the wind in the canyon as "hellacious."

Rescuers had talked to the climbers by cell phone and tracked their mountain locator unit before reaching them at 10:47 a.m. PST.

"The most important part of this rescue is that they did everything right," Lt. Nick Watt of the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office said in a news conference.

The climbers spent the night huddled in two sleeping bags and a tarp in the canyon.

Rescue teams battled winds up to 70 mph and blowing snow trying to locate the three climbers. The teams made it close to the climbers overnight but decided to wait until daylight Monday because they could not see anything, said Russell Gubele, coordinating communications for the rescue operation.

The three climbers were members of an eight-person party that set out on Saturday, camped on the mountain that night, and had started back down on Sunday when they ran into bad weather, officials said.

As they were descending, the three slipped off a ledge at about 8,300 feet. Someone in the party used a cell phone to place an emergency call to authorities.

"My understanding is that they are experienced rock climbers, but not necessarily experienced in mountain climbing," Gubele said.

The 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.

Watt said the trio's use of a locating device may have saved them from a worse fate.

"That's why it is a rescue, not a recovery," Watt said, alluding to three climbers who went missing on Mount Hood in December.

Then, search teams scoured Mount Hood for days in the hopes of finding a group of missing climbers alive. The bodies of Brian Hall, of Dallas, and Jerry "Nikko" Cooke, of New York, have not been found. Another climber in their group, Kelly James, of Dallas, died of hypothermia.

In the past 25 years, more than 35 climbers have died on the mountain, one of the most frequently climbed in the world.