Stranded climbers and dog safely off the mountain

This is getting pretty ridiculous. I say anyone who wants to go up the mountain is fully responsible for getting back down. Why should rescue teams continuously risk their lives and taxpayers be burdened to save these people? If they don't want to die on the mountain, then they should stay off of it.

Stranded climbers and dog safely off the mountain - CNN.com

MOUNT HOOD, Oregon (CNN) -- All three climbers and a dog stranded on Mount Hood since Sunday are now off the mountain, said Russell Gubele, command officer for Mountain Wave Search and Rescue.

Lt. Nick Watt with the Clackamas County Sheriff's Department said the rescue was successful because the climbers were well equipped.

"Everything they did was right," said Watt. "In fact everything the climbers did in this occasion was right which makes the big difference between ... a successful rescue and a recovery."

The two women and a man, who suffered only minor injuries, were brought down under their own power, accompanied by three rescue teams, to a point where they could be picked up by a snow cat -- a truck-sized vehicle on tracks instead of wheels, Gubele said.

The snow cat ferried them further down the mountain to a waiting ambulance, which brought them to a state camp site.

The climbers used a mountain locator unit which helped rescue teams find them.

The three huddled in their sleeping bags with a Labrador retriever to keep warm as they awaited rescue, according to a spokesman for the climbers.

The dog, named Velvet, is doing better than the humans, climber Trevor Liston said at a news conference Monday evening.