Anchorage ? Don Jardine and two climbing partners had spent days digging their tents out of deep snow and waiting for a chance to continue their bone-chilling expedition on Canada’s highest mountain.

They had given up and started down when the wind picked up, blowing away their tent and some gear. They spent three days trapped in a blizzard.

“It’s like you’re sticking your head out a car window going 65 miles an hour while someone is throwing rice at you,” Jardine said Saturday, hours after the hikers were rescued.

Jardine, 51, Alex Snigurowicz, 45, and Erik Bjarnson, 41, were plucked from the 19,500-foot peak by rescuers from Alaska working with Canadian parks officials. They were in an Anchorage hospital recovering from frostbite.

The three climbers set out May 4 on an eight-member expedition to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the North Shore Search and Rescue team of North Vancouver.

They spent a week skiing up to King’s Col, a saddle ridge.

Then the first storm came, stranding them for five days.

When the sun came out, the party resumed the climb. Eventually, they reached 18,000 feet.

But at a plateau called Prospector’s Col, temperatures dropped again, and the trip began to take its toll on the three men. They decided to turn around and began their descent Wednesday as the other five members continued on.

On Friday morning, the other members of the party reached Tim Jones, who helped coordinate the rescue effort.

Late Friday night, a helicopter arrived and then a transport plane took them to Anchorage.