http://www.komonews.com/news/27587449.html

DARRINGTON, Wash. -- Two hypothermic hikers who have been stranded in
the North Cascades since Wednesday evening will have to spend another
night in the elements, rescue officials said Thursday night.

A ground rescue team is trying to reach the hikers, who are stranded
at about 8,000 feet elevation near Spire Point northeast of
Darrington. At last report late Thursday night, the rescuers were said
to be within a couple hundred feet of the stranded pair.

A rescue helicopter from the Whidbey Island Naval Air Base tried to
reach the hikers several times, but weather conditions prevented a
rescue operation.

"We got to within 2 miles, but they're up on the face of a mountain so
that's what's preventing the search," the pilot said.

Matthew Edwards, 33, and his girlfriend, Robin Gibson, 27, both of
Wisconsin, called 911 around 7:30 p.m. Wednesday and said they were
trapped on an 18-inch ledge on a face of the mountain.

By Thursday afternoon, rescue coordinators in contact with the pair
via cell phone convinced the couple to move off of the ledge, but
there was still concern for their well-being.

"They're tired. They're cold. They're hypothermic," search and rescue
spokesman Joel Pratt said.

Edwards and Gibson had traveled to Washington to hike a portion of the
Pacific Crest Trail through the Cascades. Rescue officials said the
two hikers took a wrong turn. They hiked down a rocky area and got
scared and in over their heads.

The terrain is very rugged and the two lost most of their gear while
they were climbing down, leaving them with only one sleeping bag and
part of a tent.

A helicopter was dispatched from the Whidbey Island Naval Air Station
to rescue the two on Wednesday night, but they could not get to the
peak due to deteriorating weather conditions. A three-person "fast
team" of rescuers began hiking in Thursday morning, hoping to make it
to the two stranded hikers to provide dry clothes and food.

Later on Thursday, however, the weather had cleared enough that a Navy
helicopter was able to drop in a second rescue team. The helicopter
headed back to the scene for another possible rescue attempt Thursday,
but returned without success.

Officials hope the gear provided by the fast team will help stabilize
the two hikers so they are able to make it through another night.
Overnight lows at the hikers' location are expected to drop into the
mid 40s early Friday.

Edwards contacted rescue crews Thursday morning on his cell phone and
said the Gibson's condition was "dire," but sheriff's officials said
in a later conversation both Gibson and Edwards reported that they
were "stable."

He also told rescuers that he has hiked the same trail twice before.