A man in his 40s has been rescued from an area between Mt Alta and Black Hill, to the west of Lake Wānaka, this afternoon (Wednesday January 13).

A personal locator beacon (PLB) was activated at 11.30am and traced to the area between Black Hill and Mt Alta, at an altitude of approximately 2000 metres, New Zealand Rescue Coordination Centre (Maritime NZ) senior communications advisor David Graham told the Wanaka App.

“A helicopter from Aspiring Helicopters was tasked to carry out the rescue and winched two Alpine Cliff Rescue members down to assist the man in his 40s who had a leg injury.”

The Alpine Cliff Rescue team is part of the Wanaka Search and Rescue operations.

Detective Alan Lee, one of three Wanaka police officers with SAR responsibility, told the Wanaka App the man was on a solo tramping mission on a ridge above Rumbling Burn when he fell.

He was well prepared, with a sat phone and a PLB.

Mt Alta via Rumbling Burn. PHOTO: skitouring.co.nz

The man activated his beacon, and the New Zealand Rescue Coordination Centre advised Wanaka SAR.

“We sent in a helicopter with two Alpine Rescue people, and used a long line to extract him from where he was. They lifted to a place where they gave him first aid,” Alan said.

The man was helicoptered back to the Wanaka SAR base and taken by ambulance to the Wanaka Medical Centre.

“Everybody went home happy, really,” Alan said, adding that people should ensure when they go out that they are prepared for all possibilities. 

“This guy did very, very well.”

He said had the man not carried a PLB, SAR would eventually have been advised by next of kin that the man had failed to return.

“It would have been a delayed response, but the beacon gives that immediate response.”

Alan described the exercise as “bread and butter” for Wanaka’s volunteer SAR team.

“We probably do 20 or 30 of these a year,” he said.

The unpaid volunteers of Wanaka LandSAR, operating in conjunction with the NZ police and the Rescue Coordination Centre, carry out between 35 and 50 operations a year, making Wanaka consistently one of the busiest SAR groups in the country.

Donations can be made to Wanaka LandSAR here.