A 30-year-old overseas visitor was rescued before nightfall after falling five or six metres in steep and rocky terrain in Mount Aspiring National Park on Saturday afternoon (March 22).

A team of Wānaka Search and Rescue (SAR) alpine cliff volunteers was flown in to extract the man after he fell just before 3.30pm, suffering two broken ankles and head injuries. 

An Otago Southland Rescue Helicopter with a paramedic on board was unable to reach the man due to low cloud, so the Rescue Coordination Centre (RCC) called in the Wānaka experts with Aspiring Helicopters to retrieve him at 5.30pm.

Wānaka SAR chair Raewyn Calhaem said two rescuers went in on foot, prepared to overnight with the patient, but the cloud started to break after they set off, so the other two rescuers were flown in. 

“It was really tricky terrain – rocky and very slippery and our guys used all the right gear,” Raewyn said.

The man could not be rescued on foot, and it was 7.30pm by the time he was finally lifted out. 

Bystanders had loaned him a personal locator beacon (PLB) to alert emergency services and wrapped him warmly while his rescuers arrived, Raewyn said.

An RCC spokesperson says the rescue took five hours from the PLB activation, stressing the importance of carrying one.

The man is believed to have fallen near where a young French woman died after falling only several metres around 7pm on 20 February. Her death is being investigated by the Coroner.

There have been more than half a dozen helicopter rescues to the Brewster Track this summer alone.

Alpine experts around the country are very concerned about the extent to which young Instagrammers, usually inexperienced, are being lured past Brewster Hut to walk to the glacier. 

There’s no marked track through dangerous terrain.

“This is a high consequence area so if it goes wrong, it really does go wrong,” Raewyn said.

The alpine team had been called in to 12 rescues to retrieve injured patients from various popular climbs and hikes in the region since the beginning of January.

Just days ago a popular Australian Instagram influencer posted photos of herself outside and inside Brewster Glacier under its ice fall. However, she did warn her 414,000 followers that it was an “unmarked high-risk trail, following a steep ridgeline with significant drop offs which should only be attempted by those with experience in alpine environments”. 

People of various nationalities responded in almost 100 comments, most eager to try it.

Police, alpine rescuers and the Mountain Safety Council (MSC) have been warning of the dangers around Brewster Glacier for nearly a year.

A joint interagency taskforce is researching why there’s been such a huge spike in interest in Brewster Glacier and other increasingly popular areas. 

“Brewster has become an emerging issue,” MSC senior partnerships and insights advisor Bevan Smith said. 

“There’s no identified safe route beyond Brewster Hut. You need skills and equipment to pick a safe route, and to know how to read the weather conditions. If cloud descends you can be navigating your way back to the hut across steep, exposed terrain in a whiteout.”

The Department of Conservation has erected new warning signs outside Brewster Hut within the past month.

PHOTO: Supplied