Otago Search and Rescue individuals and groups were four of 10 to be honoured at the annual New Zealand Search and Rescue awards in Wellington.
The Wakatipu Land Search and Rescue team in Queenstown won a certificate of achievement for their July 1 and 2 alpine cliff rescue.
What was supposed to be a day climb for the hikers, turned into an overnight ordeal once forecast bad weather rolled in early, forcing them to seek shelter.
Four members of the Alpine Cliff Rescue team flew to the scene via helicopter, but failing light and 80kmh-100kmh winds prevented them from reaching the climbers.
At 10.30pm, the avalanche danger was high, wind chill was -15°C and snow was falling, leading to the team attempting to rescue the stranded climbers on foot.
For four hours, the team climbed up in the dark before reaching the climbers about 7.30am the next day.
The team’s commitment to rescuing the stranded climbers led to people submitting the team for the awards.
Alpine Cliff Rescue team leader Tarn Pilkington said the team was "pretty stoked" to be recognised for their community service.
Out of five individuals to receive a certificate of achievement yesterday three were from Otago.
Dunedin Marine Search and Rescue chairman Martin Balch started dipping his toes into the water of marine search and rescue in the 1970s.
His community service resume is long and includes work with Dunedin Marine SAR, Coastguard Boating Education, Amateur Radio Emergency Communications, Canterbury Mountain Radio, and the Otago Maritime VHF Association.
Mr Balch has a long list of career highlights, one of the standouts being co-ordinating the communication systems and assisting in the Kaikōura disaster recovery for three years during his retirement.
"I started by assisting in helicopter communications for the disaster recovery where I flew in helicopters, refuelled stations, got on the ground and got to work.
"That turned into me doing the entire communications for the disaster recovery."
Mr Balch said at the end of the day, "there was nothing better than a successful rescue with alive people at the end".
Also receiving an award was Wānaka Lakes Coastguard president Jonathan Walmisley, MBE, for his 10-year tenure as club president which has seen him build a team from being a "small unit of 15 members with an old boat and no home" to a well-developed unit of 33 people, capable of meeting everything that was thrown at it.
Land and Marine Search and Rescue volunteer Graeme Irvine, of Dunedin, received his certificate of achievement for more than 50 years of service to the Otago community, with decades of finding people on land and water.
He helped in management, marine and land searches, mentoring, and creating systems to help develop search and rescue operations and train people up for them.
The awards were presented by Associate Minister for Transport Matt Doocey.
