KEY POINTS:
Two young Canterbury trampers who spent two nights lost in mountainous bush were rescued yesterday, cold and hungry, after using solar energy to partly recharge a cellphone and text for help.
Adam Cassidy, 24, and Mathew Cague, 21, of Ashburton, became lost in fog with Mr Cassidy's dog Cass after setting out on Friday morning on what was meant to be a day climb of Mt Peel near Geraldine.
A search-and-rescue operation involving a helicopter as well as 10 police and 70 volunteers was launched after the pair, who work at an Ashburton plastics factory, sent a text message to friends that evening to say they had lost their bearings.
But their cellphone battery was already running low and it was only yesterday morning, after removing it from the phone and laying it out in the sun, that the pair were able to send another message from a hill-top tower to give rescuers a rough idea of where they were - about 3km from the main search area.
The ill-equipped pair spent their first night in the open, where they had little fuel to keep a short-lived fire going and the rain soaked their lightweight clothing.
Mr Cassidy had a long-sleeved top and sleeveless vest but Mr Cague had only shorts and a short-sleeved top.
But Mr Cassidy insisted last night that the pair were wearing hiking boots and, although he acknowledged they were ill-prepared for their ordeal, he denied reports that one of them went into the bush with only gumboots.
All they had to eat were light snacks such as a bag of sweets and a few crackers, he told the Herald via a recharged cellphone on his way to Christchurch for rest and recuperation after a check-up with Mr Cague at Timaru Hospital.
Rain and fog prevented the helicopter from being used on Saturday, and concern for the pair's safety mounted as the search was called off that night.
Mr Cassidy said the two were able to find a cave to shelter in, after trying to talk themselves out of a fear they would never be found, and decided to climb a hill yesterday morning to give the cellphone one last try.
Under Saturday's cloud cover, the pair had not even managed to switch on the phone, but all it took yesterday was about 15 minutes of the sun's rays to regain the minimum charge needed to send a text message as opposed to a more energy-hungry phone call.
He acknowledged being scared that after feeling drained of energy on Saturday, the pair would not survive what was supposed to have been an excursion of no more than six hours.
"Yesterday, when we were waiting it out, hoping for a better day today, I really felt we weren't going to get out," he said.
"I thought that if we were going to have any chance, I had to start by changing how I was thinking about the situation, because I was just draining myself."
Although the pair had some tramping experience, Mr Cassidy said it was no more than occasional overnight expeditions, and he vowed to be better prepared in the future.
"It won't be in the short or medium term, but next time I will definitely take a compass and distress beacon - and a few extra wits."
Search-and-rescue operation head Detective Mike Wingfield confirmed that the cellphone probably saved the men's lives.
