Tramper winched to safety in West Auckland

A tramper was winched to safety after breaking his leg on the Goldies Bush Track near Muriwai.

The Northland Rescue Helicopter was called to the walkway on the west coast of Auckland after a 52-year-old man fell down a 50m grass bank yesterday morning.

The man was located at the top of a waterfall with a badly broken lower left leg.

Police Search and Rescue also responded to the incident with 10 staff and volunteers.

A police spokeswoman said emergency services reached the man within 40 minutes of receiving the call and decided a helicopter winch was the best option for the man's rescue.

The Northland Rescue Helicopter crew used a 33m stretcher winch to pull the man to safety.

"We usually like to do winches a lot lower if possible but in this case it wasn't possible because of the tree cover and large kauri trees in the area," pilot Steve Couchman said.

"There is a lot that comes together to execute a winch like that.

"It was difficult because it was down in a gully and we had a couple of big kauri trees off to the left hand side of the helicopter and some lower manuka and kanuka," Couchman said.

"It was dead calm and there wasn't a breeze in that gully at all so the wind wasn't an issue at all."

After a successful winch rescue, the man was transported to Auckland City Hospital.