Paraglider saved by night vision gear

The paraglider was forced to make an unplanned landing on steep tussock slopes high above the valley floor. Photo / Thinkstock

A paraglider stranded on a steep mountainside as night closed in was saved by rescuers using night vision gear.

The 39-year-old Dunedin man was attempting to fly from Mt Brewster to the Haast Pass Highway on the South Island's West Coast on Saturday when his flight went wrong.

He was forced to make an unplanned landing on steep tussock slopes high above the valley floor while his paragliding mates landed safely on land below.

Although he was uninjured, the onset of darkness meant he couldn't walk down the mountain.

Instead, he activated his personal locator beacon, which scrambled a rescue response.

The Rescue Coordination Centre tasked the Greymouth-based New Zealand Coal and Carbon (NZCC) Rescue Helicopter to search for the beacon.

With the aid of night vision goggles and beacon direction-finding equipment, the man was soon found.

An alpine and cliff rescue team member was winched down to the man, before they were both winched aboard and flown to Makarora where he was reunited with his companions.

While returning to Greymouth the rescue helicopter was diverted to another beacon activation, this time in the Aoraki-Mt Cook area.

A beacon was tracked to steep bluffs in the Freds Stream catchment, about 10km south of Mt Cook village.

Lights from a party of climbers were seen in the bluffs but conditions and terrain prevented a winch rescue from being attempted.

The trio were rescued the following day by the Aoraki-Mt Cook Alpine Rescue team.