Trapped overnight in snow

An elderly couple spend the night in freezing conditions after they became lost.

A 70-year-old tramper was recovering in Wairoa Hospital late yesterday after he and his wife were trapped in snow for a night in the heart of Te Urewera National Park between Wairoa and Rotorua.

Beginning to suffer hypothermia, scientist Richard Senior and wife Joy, a nurse, managed to phone for help on Friday night, when they were about 10 minutes from the summit of Mount Manuoha, north of Lake Waikaremoana and, at almost 1400 metres, the high point of Te Urewera National Park.

Conditions meant they were unable to be reached by helicopter rescue services from Rotorua, and they spent the night huddled in sleeping bags in the snow beside the track overnight before the arrival of the Lowe Corporation Hawke's Bay Rescue Helicopter on Saturday morning.

Wairoa area search and rescue controller and Tuai policeman Senior Constable Tony Maultsaid said the two were "very lucky" to have survived and be rescued after the cold night, which included a passing front near dawn that had delayed putting the Hawke's Bay helicopter into the area.

Equally "lucky" was their phone call, and Mr Maultsaid said: "It was from an 027 number, and I didn't think that worked up there. It was fairly intermittent."

The call was made at 7.23pm on Friday and the mission was initially handled by Bay of Plenty rescuers until, with two helicopter flights aborted due to the conditions, it was decided to attempt the rescue from the eastern side.

The Lowe Corporation crew used night-vision equipment in initial attempts but was unable to fly into the immediate area because of cloud.

Mr Maultsaid said the couple were met in the morning by four trampers who had been at Manuoha Hut, and were helped into dry sleeping bags before the rescue helicopter arrived.

The two were taken to Wairoa Hospital about 9am on Saturday, and the man was admitted suffering from severe hypothermia. His wife was discharged after treatment.

Mrs Senior said the ordeal had been frustrating.

"I had a feeling the hut was very close but I didn't want to leave my husband," she said.

Her cellphone had poor coverage and she knew they were waiting for a chopper.

"We knew no ground team could get access to us so it was a bit disheartening knowing we had to wait for a helicopter."

She said she would put the incident down as a learning experience: "Some things in life you enjoy and some you endure."

She commended the efforts of the rescue team and the response of a young couple who found them. "We have some pretty darn good people here in New Zealand."

Mrs Senior said that snow melting off the trees had caused her husband's hypothermia.

"It was not a matter of fitness as just last year we biked from Cape Reinga to Bluff."

She will not let the experience deter her from future tramps: "We won't let it beat us."

Rescue helicopter pilot Charlie Beetham said snow caused visibility issues and meant the crew was unable to land on first attempt.

"Once the weather cleared it was just a matter of us getting to the trampers before the cold did."