Two Italian climbers were rescued by helicopter in the Himalayas Thursday.
The two, Walter Nones and Simon Kehrer, had been trying to get back down the Nanga Parbat mountain after losing their leader last week but bad weather forced them to abandon several attempts.
''We're OK, we're OK,'' said Nones on the phone to the head of Italy's Himalayan operations, Agostino Da Polenza.
''There was a small avalanche yesterday but we were able to ski on this morning,'' he said.
''Phone home straight away,'' Da Polenza said.
''What? I have to phone home?'' Nones replied.
''Perhaps you want to wait until tomorrow,'' Da Polenza quipped.
''I'm really happy but I have to feed the baby,'' Nones's wife said from her home in northern Italy.
''My son Eric is only four months old and he can't wait''.
Running low on food and energy, the pair have kept Italy on tenterhooks since they abandoned a bid to open a new route up Nanga Parbat when their leader Karl Unterkircher fell to his death last Wednesday.
Snowstorms and fog forced them to camp out on an ice ridge this week instead of skiing down to a pick-up point.
But the weather cleared Thursday morning and the choppers were able to move in.
