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Queens Men Safe After Getting Lost Climbing Mountain Near Lake Placid

LAKE PLACID, N.Y. (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Two Queens men were safe Saturday afternoon, after they got lost trying to climb a mountain upstate near Lake Placid.

Authorities said Nathan Chintala of Rego Park, and Seven Sawyer of Queens Village, called 911 late Thursday afternoon and said they had become lost trying to hike up a peak called Avalanche Mountain. The men did not know where they were.

"They went out there and didn't keep track of where they were, and thought they'd make their own way up the mountain," said Sawyers father.

Rangers launched a search, but it was called off as darkness fell Thursday night.

1010 WINS Reporter Gary Baumgarten spoke with Sawyer's family...

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Overnight temperatures dropped close to the freezing mark, but the Adirondack Daily Enterprise reports the pair survived the night and safely found their way out at daybreak.

A Department of Environmental Conservation spokesman told the newspaper the men "bushwhacked" down the mountainside at daybreak, and had made it to safety by 7:30 a.m. Friday.

A family member of Chintala's told 1010 WINS the men were still upstate as of Saturday afternoon.

(TM and Copyright 2012 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2012 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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