Lost hiker rescued off Mt Tutamoe in Northland

A day walker found himself cold and hungry on Sunday night after he become lost on Mt Tutomoe and had to be rescued. Photo / Land Search and Rescue Northland

A walker who planned to ascend Northland’s second-highest peak found himself lost and had to wait five hours to be rescued.

Northland Land Search and Rescue (LandSAR) field team member Robbie Blankenstein said the team got the call at 5.20pm on Sunday after a man became lost on Mt Tutamoe, about 40km north of Dargaville.

He had attempted to traverse the four-hour return track to the summit, a walk which was short but steep.

A police spokesperson said police Search and Rescue as well as Northland LandSAR were deployed after attempts to locate the man via mobile were unsuccessful.

LandSAR were able to pull eight members, including Blankenstein, from around the Whangārei area and get to the bottom of the track by 7pm.

There, they joined Northland Police Search and Rescue crews.

“We were able to proceed up half of the track before it really got dark, and then we commenced searching sound technique,” Blankenstein said.

That included spreading out along the track and at co-ordinated intervals, making noise by blasting whistles and listening for a response.

At the same time that was being done, police were able to get a GPS co-ordinate from the man, Blankenstein said.

Rescue crews were already able to hear the man, so they used the combined information to locate him 98m off track.

Despite clear skies and little wind, it was “incredibly thick” vegetation to cut through, Blankenstein said.

The man was located about 10pm, cold but not hypothermic.

Blankenstein believed that was partly because the man notified emergency services fairly quickly.

But although the man did things right when he realised he was lost, more could have been done to avoid the situation.

“He did not have the quantity of food and water for what he turned out to be exposed to,” Blankenstein said.

He was accompanied back down the track, and the rescue crew made it back to their vehicles by midnight.

The police spokesperson said the rescue was a “fantastic result” with the help of Northland LandSAR.

Brodie Stone covers crime and emergency for the Northern Advocate. She has spent most of her life in Whangārei and is passionate about delving into issues that matter to Northlanders and beyond.