Daring cliff-face rescue saves pair

A tiny ledge on a steep slip and a calm day saved the lives of two hunters airlifted to safety out of the Ruahine Range by The Square Trust Rescue Helicopter crew.

Pilot Fergus MacLachlan said the couple, whom he believed to be tourists, were plucked to safety from a steep, crumbly slipface, hundreds of metres above a river, about 11.30am Saturday.

They were about 5km north of Long View Hut, which is in the hills at the back of Norsewood. The woman apparently fell from the track down a steep face.

"Probably about 75 to 80 degrees of slope. There's no way you'd climb that unaided," Mr MacLachlan said.

A tiny ledge stopped her fall. If it hadn't been there, Mr MacLachlan said, she would have landed in the river below.

Her male partner went down the slip to help her. Cellphone coverage was not good in the area, but he managed to text GPS co-ordinates to the police, who got rescue services moving.

Neither of the hunters was badly injured. Mr MacLachlan needed two crewmen for the cliffside rescue. They pinpointed the couple, then he held the helicopter as steady as he could, as close to the face of the slip as was safe.

"The cliff was so steep we had to work from about 100 feet [30m] above them; I couldn't get closer to them."

Winch operator Kevin Dalzell lowered crewman Bradley Shanks down to the stranded couple. Mr Shanks brought the woman up first, then went back for the man.

Downdraft from the helicopters rotors blew their packs further down the cliff, and because the packs included ammunition and a high-powered rifle, Mr MacLachlan went further down and his crewmen collected those as well.

"It was pretty curly. We were incredibly lucky that there was so little wind, only about five knots blowing from the north. We had to work so close to the cliff edge, because it was so steep."

He never found out who the couple were, but thought they were tourists. "We dropped them back at the track car park. There wasn't room to land, so we just let them out, waved goodbye and took off."

Mr MacLachlan said his crewmen had been invaluable, as had the rescue helicopter's new winch, which was brought into service just after Christmas.

"This was its first big workout, and the guys were amazing. People don't realise that the crew are all volunteers, police or firefighters or just people with the right skills who want to help. Kevin came in specially for this, he wasn't even on the roster on Saturday."

The Square Trust Rescue Helicopter needs public donations to continue its rescue work.

- © Fairfax NZ News