Three hunters had a "lucky" escape after an avalanche brought snow crashing down on their tents in Fiordland yesterday.
Southern Lakes Helicopter pilot Snow Mullally said the group came into distress about 11pm and set off a personal locator beacon.
"We went out there with night vision googles and tracked down the beacon."
The avalanche had hit the trio's tents where they were camping at the head of Lake Te Anau.