YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, Calif. -- Two Japanese climbers were found dead Wednesday in Yosemite National Park, dangling from a 3,200-foot sheer climbing face amid an early blizzard that caught hikers throughout the Sierra Nevada off-guard.
Rescuers pummeled by heavy snow and strong wind struggled to reach several stranded backpackers.
The climbers on El Capitan, the granite monolith in the Yosemite Valley that is among the world's best-known rock climbing spots, were spotted Tuesday by Yosemite rangers but could not be reached because of driving wind and snow.
A helicopter crew took off Wednesday as the storm began to clear and spotted the pair dangling lifeless about two-thirds of the way up the rock face, park ranger Deb Schweizer said.
"They weren't moving," she said. "They didn't seem well-equipped."
Rangers expected to be able to retrieve the bodies Thursday.
The Japanese men were among seven people on El Capitan when the brunt of the storm hit Tuesday, Schweizer said. A solo climber was rescued Wednesday, while rangers reached a man and a woman and were going to remain with them on the face overnight, Schweizer said. The other climbers only asked for extra supplies.
The blizzard raged at higher elevations through much of Wednesday, frustrating rescuers who labored against 4-foot-deep snow and 50 mph winds to reach the areas where the hikers were thought to be, at elevations from 8,000 to close to 10,000 feet.
"It's miserable," said Erica Stuart, spokeswoman for the Madera County Sheriff's Department.
The stranded hikers included two groups of experienced backpackers along with a couple from San Luis Obispo County who apparently set out for a day hike.
Rescue workers believe the hikers can survive if they find shelter and wait for the storm to pass. Storm clouds were expected to clear Thursday night, when temperatures were expected to plunge to zero through much of the central Sierra.
"It certainly is a bona fide blizzard condition," said Mark Burger, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
The missing couple was believed to have started on a two- to three-mile hike in the Sierra National Forest east of Fresno when they were caught in the storm, said Lt. Toby Rien of the Fresno County Sheriff's Department.
He said rescuers were fighting conditions they described as "whiteout, zero visibility."
Also in Sierra National Forest, four members of a Santa Cruz County winemaking family were reported missing Sunday after they failed to return from a two-day hike at a 9,400-foot-elevation lake northeast of Fresno.
A break in the weather late Wednesday allowed the Fresno County Sheriff's Department to dispatch a helicopter toward the group's location. It was to drop supplies if it spotted the hikers, sheriff's officer Robert Osborn said.
In a cabin at Shaver Lake near the sheriff's command post, several members of the family were awaiting word on their relatives, ages 16 to 47.
"It seems foolish to undertake this (hike). But in all fairness, they didn't know this storm was coming," said Rita Bargetto, sister of one of the missing men. "We just hope and pray they were smart enough to know they shouldn't have moved when the snow came."
Early Tuesday, the Madera County Sheriff's Department launched a search for four men from the San Francisco area who were believed to be stranded in the Ansel Adams Wilderness near the southern boundary of Yosemite National Park. The men had apparently changed the itinerary they left with family members, setting back rescue efforts.
Rescuers, including searchers riding snowmobiles, were thwarted in their attempts to find the group Wednesday. Continued bad weather turned away a military helicopter that had been called in for the search, Stuart said.
Family members said the men, ranging in age from 45 to 75, have experience camping in the snow. Authorities arranged for a military helicopter from Mather Air Force Base to search for the men once the weather breaks.
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Associated Press Writer Tom Verdin in San Francisco contributed to this report.
