CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: In Washington state, four mountain climbers are safe today following their rescue from Mt. Rainier. A helicopter plucked the climbers from near the summit. Kristi Paulus of CNN affiliate KCPQ in Seattle picks up the story from here.</s>KRISTI PAULUS, KCPQ REPORTER (voice-over): In a cloud of dusk, a Chinook Army helicopter drops four mountain climbers onto safe ground.</s>UWE NEHRING, NATIONAL PARK SERVICE: They're healthy, and they're drinking up, eating up, right now, trying to replace body fluids and get their energy back and be reunited with their families.</s>PAULUS: The Park Service rushed the climbers to a nearby ranger station, for a quick debrief, thus ending a two-day-two-night ordeal at more than 13,000 feet. Things went bad Monday about 3:00, when an avalanche swept away much of the climbers' gear.</s>NEHRING: They didn't hear it coming, they didn't see it coming, because the visibility was so poor, and it took all of them off their feet and moved them about 20 feet down the slope.</s>TOM SIMONDS, CLIMBER'S FATHER: It's just straight happiness that it all worked out fine. The avalanche could have took them, but it only took their equipment.</s>PAULUS: Lorraine Willoughby (ph), mother of 32-year-old Alton Willoughby (ph), has a message for her son.</s>LORRAINE WILLOUGHBY (ph): I will be very glad to see him, and then I'm going to smack him.</s>LIN: The first attempt to rescue the climbers was halted by a blinding snowstorm. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Climbers Safe After Rescue on Mt. Rainier