KEY POINTS:
A search is on for two trampers who spent the night in the open on Mt Peel after becoming lost yesterday.
The two Ashburton men, in their early to mid-twenties, sent a text to friends last night saying they had lost their bearings during what was meant to be a day climb of Mt Peel, near Geraldine.
Detective Mike Wingfield, who is co-ordinating the search and rescue mission, said phone contact had now been lost with the men, and police believed their batteries had gone flat.
The men were thought to be relatively inexperienced and ill-equipped.
It had been drizzling in the area all night, and the weather remained poor today, hampering visibility, he said.
About 40 searchers were scouring the lower ranges of Mt Peel, with a few venturing further towards middle Mt Peel, he said.
He hoped to find the pair in the next few hours.
"If we have to go further than middle Mt Peel, onto big Mt Peel, it will become a very large search area, in very steep country," he said.
- NZPA
