Tramper safe after a night in the snow

A woman has been rescued after spending a night lost in freezing conditions in a forest near Rotorua.

The 47-year-old Tauranga woman was found by a search team yesterday after failing to return from a day tramp in Whirinaki Forest Park on Sunday.

She had spent the night in a hut she chanced upon after taking a wrong turn on a track, reaching shelter just as pouring rain turned to sleet.

By morning, the area was covered in snow and police said she was lucky to have reached the hut, where she was able to light a fire.

They said the woman was well clad with wet-weather gear but was not equipped for a night in the bush.

She was found at midday yesterday after Rotorua police search and rescue squad members and volunteers were flown into the area at first light.

The Tenon Rescue Helicopter dropped searchers on the ground and conducted an extensive aerial search of southern Whirinaki and the western part of Te Hoe catchment.

The woman was found by a ground team who intercepted her as she retraced her route back to another hut where she had originally been staying with her husband.

He had walked out to raise the alarm after she failed to return from her day tramp alone and was said to be greatly relieved when she was found.

Detective Sergeant John Wilson, head of the Rotorua police search and rescue squad, said the woman was uninjured but did not want to talk publicly about her ordeal.

He said she and her husband had been staying at the Central Whirinaki Hut when she went for the tramp on a loop track while her husband went hunting.

"She took a wrong turn and ended up walking about seven or eight kilometres more than she should have," Mr Wilson said.

"She was fortunate that where she went she eventually came to a hut."

A ridge the woman crossed to get to the hut was later buried in snow and conditions were bitterly cold and wet.

"If she hadn't reached the hut, the result could have been quite different."

He said there was no issue with people going out on tramps alone but they needed to be sure where they were going.

Meanwhile, police said yesterday that the search for an Auckland tramper presumed dead in bush south of the city emphasised the importance of staying put once lost.

Search controller Senior Sergeant Dene Duthie said Anshan Yang may have been found if he had hunkered down and waited for help. He disappeared in the Hunua Ranges, south east of Auckland nine days ago.

Searchers called off the search on Thursday after finding no trace of 54-year-old Mr Yang from Auckland's North Shore. He had been on a day tramp with his sister and nephew on May 28.

Mr Duthie said many people, particularly the inexperienced, did not appreciate how conditions could change and how difficult New Zealand bush could be.

The bush where Mr Yang disappeared was a "nightmare, very, very dense" with 140km of track.

He said there was little else police could do.

"I am picking he got mislaid off the track he was walking, and there were several tracks he could have taken.

"He has probably gone off the track at night to get some shelter, got disorientated and kept walking further away from the track."

"We covered each track at least twice, the ones close by three or four times."

Mr Duthie said it was a problem when missing people kept walking instead of staying put. They could end up back in an area that had already been searched.

It was Mr Yang's first time in the bush. He wore a cotton T-shirt and an acrylic jumper which would not have kept him warm.

He said it was important anyone who went into the bush, even for a day walk, took food and extra warm clothing, even if it was sunny.

- Additional reporting by NZPA