Alaskan Air National Guard Rescues Three Stranded Hikers

— -- Airmen with the Alaska Air National Guard have rescued three hikers who were stranded on a glacier about 50 miles east of Anchorage.

The rescue crews set off in two helicopters Friday morning to the Knik glacier after weather conditions improved from earlier this week, Lt. Col. John Morse, deputy director of the Alaska Rescue Coordination Center, said in a press release on Friday.

Pararescuemen from the Air National Guard were able to reach the hikers and assess their condition, which indicated minor frostbite, before loading them onto a helicopter for transport to a hospital in Anchorage.

"They were stuck at approximately 8,500 feet in elevation," Morse said.

Rescuers tried to reach the group several times beginning early Wednesday morning, but officials said poor weather conditions kept them from getting to the stranded hikers.

Before rescuers reached the hikers, four supply bundles, one of which included a radio, were dropped onto the glacier Wednesday and Thursday, Morse said.

The hikers had originally set out on April 3, but they were unable to make a scheduled pickup two days later because of bad weather.

The climbers were forced to take shelter in an ice cave after high winds damaged their tent, according to Morse. The group was able to send a text message to a friend using a satellite-based device, and the friend contacted Alaska State Troopers.

"The crews did an incredible job battling the weather, thinking of creative ways that we could get supplies to the climbers and persevering throughout the last four days," Morse said in a statement. "Everyone was leaning forward, doing everything they could to ensure the climbers were safely rescued."