Woman rescued from Tongariro river trails

A woman was rescued from the dense bush of the Tongariro river trails. File photo

A woman was rescued by helicopter from the dense bush of the Tongariro river trails yesterday after falling from her bike.

The Taupo-based Greenlea Rescue helicopter was dispatched to the river trails about 2pm yesterday to help the woman in her 50s who had badly injured her ankle.

She was lifted from the trail on a longline recovery system.

Fortunately, there were open paddocks less than 50 metres from her position, which she could be taken to, the rescue chopper said.

From there, she was put on a stretcher inside the helicopter.

The woman was biking on a properly formed trail but was about 600 metres from the nearest road exit, Taupo Greenlea rescue helicopter pilot Nat Every said.

"It looked like she'd fractured her ankle," he said. "She couldn't bear weight on it and wasn't very mobile so it would have been quite a considerable effort to get her out without a helicopter."

The woman was flown to Rotorua hospital.