If WSAR is coming
The call
Call Wilderness Search and Rescue: 021 937 0300. Tell them your name, your location by peak or trail name, what happened, and whether anyone is injured. Stay on the line if you can.
While you wait
Stay put unless you are in immediate danger. WSAR will tell you if you need to move. Keep the injured person warm, still, and calm. Monitor them for any changes. If you lose signal, call back as soon as you can.
The helicopter
Move to the most open, visible space you can reach. Lay out bright clothing on the ground. Remove loose items that can blow into the rotors. Do not approach the aircraft until the crew signals.
Improve your visibility
- Bright colours facing up
- Mirror — a phone screen works
- Whistle — three blasts
- Headlamp — flash a pattern
Helicopters can't always land. They might lower a paramedic on a line. Stand back — don't grab the line until they signal.
If you are lost or caught by dark
Most trouble starts with pushing on. A night on the mountain is survivable — a fall in the dark is not.
- Stop as soon as you realise you are lost. Do not keep walking and hope the path reappears.
- Call Wilderness Search and Rescue on 021 937 0300 early. A call made in daylight is a daylight rescue.
- Never descend an unfamiliar ravine or gully to get off the mountain — they end in cliffs. Go back the way you came, or stay where you are.
- Get out of the wind. Shelter behind rocks, put on every layer you have, and sit on your pack rather than bare ground.
- Stay together. A group that splits up becomes two rescues.
- Be findable: six whistle blasts or torch flashes, wait a minute, repeat. Three in reply means rescuers have heard you.
- Make your battery last: drop screen brightness, close other apps, keep the phone warm in an inside pocket. Do not switch it off — rescuers may call you back.