Climbers safe after Mount Foraker avalanche

(Anchorage, Alaska-AP) -- It turns out two mountain climbers presumed dead in an avalanche on Alaska's Mount Foraker are really alive.<br><br>And not only were they not hurt -- a National Park Service

Monday, May 29th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

(Anchorage, Alaska-AP) -- It turns out two mountain climbers presumed dead in an avalanche on Alaska's Mount Foraker are really alive.

And not only were they not hurt -- a National Park Service spokeswoman says they're also continuing their climb up the peak, some 17-thousand feet high.

The two climbers have been identified as Glen Deal, a Montana man, and Gren Hinton from Australia.

The powerful avalanche apparently roared right past the men on Saturday as they were making their way up the steep climbing route
known as the "Infinite Spur." Climbers higher up the mountain reported hearing shouts below.

A high-altitude helicopter spotted the two men early today.

Mount Foraker is the nation's sixth-highest mountain. It's in the Alaska Range about 15 miles southwest of Mount McKinley.