The Wellington-based Westpac rescue helicopter found the man just south of Waikune, 30km northeast of Raetihi, about 2am.
"This was one of the trickiest searches I have been involved in," said helicopter crewman Colin Larsen.
"We had intermittent contact with the lost man via his cellphone and he was extremely difficult to locate due to the terrain, his dark clothing and his location stuck amongst 80 foot trees."
The helicopter, equipped with its Forward Looking Infra Red (FLIR) camera, night vision goggles, Nite Sun and a search team left Wellington shortly after 11pm.
It stopped at Palmerston North to top up fuel and to pick up a search and rescue specialist with good knowledge of the search area.
Just over an hour after the helicopter team began its search the man was able to maintain enough cellphone coverage to talk the helicopter pilot into his location. Once located a rescuer was winched down to the man and they were both winched out.
"Even when we were practically right above him he was quite difficult to spot," said pilot Harry Stevenson.
"Ironically the bright moon made searching with our night vision goggles a bit difficult at times, but in the end we found him and were able to pull him out of the bush."
Conditions in the area were cold but there was very little wind. Once winched aboard the helicopter the man was taken to a nearby police search and rescue squad who were able to look after him.
The helicopter crew said they understood the man was a visiting Swiss National in his early 20s. He was uninjured other than being quite cold and a bit battered and bruised.
