Author Archives: SWDminda

Our Alpine Cliff Rescue experts operate in the alpine and in steep inaccessible terrain using advanced rope techniques.  All ACR volunteers are experienced mountaineers or professional guides. Below is a video showing a training session for cliff rescue with the … Continued

The sub-alpine team are a group of experienced trampers and hunters who generally search for the lost, missing and injured below the permanent snowline. Their skills are honed from years of tramping through the NZ back-country. A passion of this … Continued

The river rescue team are experts in kayaking and working in and around the massive hydraulic pressures generated by our fast-flowing mountain rivers. Swiftwater rescue requires a huge degree of discipline by water technicians.  These guys read seething cauldrons like we … Continued

Pilots operate in the mountainous Southern Alps with human sling loads delivering and extracting our rescue teams to and from  the search and rescue area.  In marginal flying conditions these professional pilots are asked to land on a summit of a mountain the size … Continued

Wanaka Search and Rescue dogs are a small group of dog handlers aiming to provide a volunteer search and rescue dog capability for various search situations.The team operates under international minimum standards, and train and evaluate to this level. The … Continued

Search and rescue responses on Lake Wanaka are provided by Coastguard Wanaka who are located at that Lake. The initial responses on Lake Hawea are provided by the Lake Hawea Marine Team (part of Wanaka Search and Rescue), with backup … Continued