Police have praised a group of "well-prepared" freedom skiers who set off an emergency locater beacon to seek help for their injured companion on the Old Man Range near Fruitlands yesterday afternoon.
A 31-year-old man, who had broken his leg, was rescued by the Otago Regional Rescue Helicopter and taken to Dunedin Hospital where he was treated and discharged.
Detective Sergeant Derek Shaw said an emergency locater beacon was activated at about 2pm and a call to emergency services was made from a cellphone at a similar time.
A party of freedom skiers was about 1km from the Obelisk rock, at the Nicholson Hut.
The group had been skiing and one of their number was injured.
"He was unable to come out under his own steam so they needed help to get him out," Det Sgt Shaw said.
Because of the nature of the terrain, the deep snow, and the fact that the weather was clear, it was decided to ask the rescue helicopter service to try and evacuate the man directly from the site.
The rescue was straight forward.
Det Sgt Shaw said the southern face of the range was popular with freedom skiers and the group was well equipped.
"It sounds like they were well-prepared and well-equipped," he said.
"This type of skiing is an adventure activity but obviously they managed the risk and eliminated the risk as much as they could and did it well."
Cellphone cover was patchy in that area and one of the skiers had to travel some distance to be able to make the emergency call.
The rest of the skiing party remained on the mountain after the injured man was evacuated, Det Sgt Shaw said.
