An English tourist has told how she survived a cold night on Mt Ruapehu after falling several times and injuring her face and head.
Suzannah Gilford, 32, a primary school teacher on sabbatical, has been in New Zealand since mid-November.
Gilford attempted to walk to the summit of Mt Ruapehu on Thursday.
But a friend decided to call 111 after several hours of not hearing from Gilford, whose last text suggested she had no idea where she was.
Writing of her misadventure on her Instagram page, Gilford said she was climbing in the snow for the first time in her life and managed to reach "stunning views" of the Mt Ruapehu crater before slipping on ice.
"No recollection of crashing but must have messed up my face and head. Waited a couple of hours until I realised no one would find me there and I had no mobile signal.
"I thus stupidly/cleverly decided not to climb back up the cliff face I'd landed on but to rock climb down, testing each rock before moving until I found one large perfect handhold rock that was stable but I held on too long, heard the terrifying crunching sound and knew what was about to happen."
She said she somersaulted backwards, possibly four times, down the cliff, landing on her feet on the snow at the bottom.
She continued walking in an attempt to find cellphone reception.
"I reached some rocks," Gilford wrote.
"Still no signal and climbed further towards stream and another drop but just then my phone, usually on silent, beeped crazily with all of Mary's texts.
"It was only a small spot of signal and could only phone emergency but it was a lifesaver."
Gilford said she sat down and hopped into her sleeping bag which had a thermal liner inside and "waited and waited", while phoning emergency services regularly.
She discovered the compass on her iPhone showed her GPS location.
"Eventually it got dark ... and a little more nerve-racking. I was not comfortable on the rocks, worried about slipping in my shiny sleeping bag, but so thankful my bag had warmed up and I wasn't a shivering wreck.
"I was admiring the stars and Milky Way ... when I kept thinking I saw bright lights, and one was frequent so I flashed my torch around and eventually heard my rescuers.
"So amazing after seven hours ... absolutely no words. They helped me climb up a scree hill on my sore ankle and eventually reach an alpine hut where we stayed until morning."
In the morning, wind had eased and a helicopter could transport her to hospital.
She said she suffered a deep cut just above her eye, but had had a soft snow landing on her feet so fortunately did not suffer spinal injuries.
"So grateful for amazing friends/family, all your messages, calls, prayers and hilarious video/voice messages," Gilford said.
"And so thankful to the volunteer rescuers who searched for hours for me stayed with me and then went off to work So many quiet heroes in this world Thank you all."
Fairfax reported that Gilford had been going to move on to Australia in her travels but she will now recover and stay with family in Levin.
Constable Aaron Owen of Ruapehu said on Friday that police were alerted to Gilford being missing about 6pm on Thursday.
Details of her whereabouts were sparse with an unknown start point, and some cryptic clues relating to a river, a waterfall and possibly a hut.
Rescuers including a Greenlea Rescue Helicopter, paramedic and volunteers from Ruapehu Alpine Rescue Organisation (RARO) began searching high-probability areas on the mountain. And with daylight fading and a huge area to search, a second chopper soon joined the search.
"Just as poor weather conditions on the upper mountain hampered the helicopter search, the missing woman made a 111 call and was able to provide a GPS reading of where she was through her cellphone," said Owen.
The GPS location showed the woman near the Whangaehu Stream, on the opposite side of the mountain from where she was trying to go.
But after failed attempts to reach her by helicopter due to strong winds, RARO volunteers were left with no option but to start a five-hour trek in the dark.
The volunteers found Gilford about 2.30am asleep in her sleeping bag perched on the edge of a large waterfall on the eastern side of the mountain. She was unaware of what had happened and where the blood on her head and face had come from, according to a statement from Greenlea Rescue Helicopter.
"She was cold, tired and had obvious head and facial injuries," said Owen.
RARO volunteers helped the woman to a nearby alpine hut and gave her first aid before bunking down for the night.
The rescue helicopter reached Gilford on Friday morning and transported her to Rotorua Hospital.