"Cool, happy to be on the ground," was a weary American paraglider's response yesterday when rescued after almost four hours stuck dangling high in a pine above Queenstown.
Police, Fire Service, St John, arborists and paragliders responded when Cade Palmer, of Queenstown, fell out of the sky and made a soft landing in a pine tree above the Kiwi Birdlife Park, behind Queenstown Primary School, about 1pm.
Constable Dan Andrew, of Queenstown, said the solo paraglider deployed his reserve parachute after he encountered problems with his main chute.
The main parachute then caught in tree branches.
A helicopter was on standby in case the man needed to be winched clear.
However, it was feared the parachutes might catch the wind from the helicopter's downdraft and blow Mr Palmer out of the tree, so other options were explored, Const Andrew said.
Fly Paragliding chief executive and co-owner Abe Laguna, a paraglider for 15 years and an arborist for 25, was working at the Coronet Peak jump site when he was asked by fellow pilots for help after the alarm was raised.
After police approval, Mr Laguna climbed the tree nearest to the stranded paraglider and threw a guide rope across the 10m gap to tether the man securely to the tree trunk, while he unclipped his harness.
Mr Laguna then sent a sling which was used to lower the paraglider to the ground, the operation taking until 4.45pm.
There was speculation the paraglider did not want his equipment damaged, a factor which would have slowed his rescue. However, Mr Laguna said the man needed to be tethered to stop him falling if the branches gave way.
The difficulty of unclipping his gear because of its weight also took time.
G Force Paragliding co-director Guy McIntyre said he paraglided soon after Mr Palmer and saw him attempt an "Infinity" forward tumbling manoeuvre when "something happened" and he deployed his reserve parachute.
"Problem was, his main chute dragged behind him and snagged on a pine tree." Mr McIntyre said Bob's Peak was popular with paragliders and was safe, "but it is for intermediate or advanced pilots".
