Footprints believed to be those of a missing tramper have been found leading into the Wilkin River, near Makarora, north of Wanaka.
Two teams of four LandSAR volunteers from Wanaka went into the upper reaches of the Wilkin River area of Mt Aspiring National Park yesterday morning to look for the man, missing since 6.30pm on Sunday.
An intensive search yesterday failed to find him. It was halted at 8pm yesterday and would resume this morning.
SAR spokesman Phil Melchior said the man was a New Zealander in his early 40s and a visitor to the area.
He had been camping on a river flat called ''Jumboland'' with his partner, his partner's brother and his partner's father.
They were returning to their campsite from a day trip to Lake Lucidus.
While the others followed the track above the steep gorge between two flats, the man took a ''shortcut'' through the gorge.
''We are confident we have had a comprehensive look and we are confident we are looking in the right place,'' Mr Melchior said.
Wanaka police SAR co-ordinator Sergeant Aaron Nicholson said the ''terrain in this area is extremely difficult and we have obvious concerns for his safety''.
''We had hoped to find him, perhaps injured, in the gorge area but this has not been the case,'' Sgt Nicholson said.
The 1km-long search area is from the downstream end of the flat where the Jumboland airstrip is and includes the gorge where the man was last seen and the smaller Jumboland flat where the party was camped.
The searchers included river rescue and bush search specialists and Aspiring Helicopters' James Ford.
Mr Melchior said: ''We are absolutely confident he could not have gone beyond that area.''
If he had been on land, searchers would have found signs, and if he was in the water he would not have floated downstream of his campsite, because the river was very shallow at that point.
The gorge was an ''extremely difficult'' area with a narrow, 50m stretch of ''boiling, white water''.
Searchers knew from footprints the man had gone into the water near the point where he separated from other members of the party, at the head of the gorge.
The operation was the fourth callout in 24 hours for LandSAR Wanaka volunteers, following three rescues on Sunday involving injured trampers, paragliders and canyoners.
