A 56-year-old Nelson man who badly fractured a leg and injured his head when he fell about 5 metres from a track during a tramping trip in South Westland was in Dunedin Hospital last night after a "challenging'' helicopter rescue.
The man had also been suffering from hypothermia in the wet conditions, but his condition was not life-threatening, rescue officials said.
Rescue authorities were alerted by a personal location beacon being activated late yesterday afternoon, after the accident, involving one member of a three-strong tramping party in the rugged Gorge River area, north of Big Bay.
John Dickson, a search and rescue officer at Rescue Co-ordination Centre New Zealand, said James Ford, an experienced pilot, of Aspiring Helicopters, had to make a long flight from his Wanaka base in a Squirrel helicopter, using a series of valleys, to avoid low cloud in the area, where it was also raining heavily.
The injured man's two companions were flown to the safety of a Department of Conservation hut, and the man was then transferred to an Otago Rescue Helicopter at Makarora before being flown to Dunedin.
