Geoff Wayatt and Alan Gillespie have spent countless hours in the mountains tracking the lost or injured and bringing them home.
LandSAR New Zealand recently rewarded both men for more than 30 years' voluntary service.
Their local knowledge, combined with that of Stu Thorne (62), who retired from LandSAR Wanaka in 2007 after 33 years' continuous service, is LandSAR Wanaka's most valuable resource.
Throughout three decades, their motivation to serve as volunteers has not wavered.
Mr Wayatt (63), a mountain guide who has climbed Mt Aspiring more than 80 times, arrived in Wanaka in 1975 and felt it only natural to support the climbing community.
Alan Gillespie (58), a farmer who has climbed Mt Aspiring six times, was similarly inclined.
"I've known Geoff since the early 1970s. We met in the Matukituki doing our own thing. I have climbed all the peaks in the West Matuki . . . and the West Matuki is my favourite. Obviously, because Geoff has been centred there, I saw a lot of Geoff," Mr Gillespie said.
Technological advances and increasing public expectations about outdoor experiences have resulted in changes to how searches are managed at base and conducted in the field.
Mr Gillespie has held various LandSAR administrative roles at national and local level and says there were good reasons for unifying the country's volunteer organisations under the LandSAR brand, such as promoting the "self-responsibility message" and consistent training and education opportunities.
Challenges include the increasing pressure on volunteers' time and resources.
The volunteer pool is also ageing.
Public access has improved, the conservation estate has expanded and there is more demand for information to protect the less experienced, such as track signs and information panels in the wilderness.
And there are concerns people may begin to eschew tried and tested safety plans in favour of heading out the door equipped with a beacon and the hope a helicopter will come if everything turns sour.
Mr Wayatt and Mr Gillespie say there is no substitute for old-fashioned common sense.
"If you go back 30 years ago, there were no signs. There were slashes on trees to guide you. You did your own research, with the people who had been there before and would be there to guide you," Mr Gillespie said.
Technology is fantastic but it can fail for more reasons than a flat battery. Beacons can break, be lost or accidently left behind. Signals are not always picked up.
The best thing is still to write down your plan and give it to a friend or family member.
And fill out Department of Conservation intentions forms, because staff do check them.
Mr Gillespie and Mr Wayatt are trained investigators, eliciting information from many sources to pinpoint the most likely location of the lost.
They interview family, friends and witnesses to build a picture of the vanished.
Personality traits are weighed against known behaviours of other people who have been lost.
But they cannot be psychic.
Both men said one of the most frustrating Wanaka-based operations involved the disappearance in 2007 of retired British metallurgist Derek Hawkins (72), whose remains were not found until 20 months after he was last seen at a hut in the Siberia Valley.
Dr Hawkins told witnesses he was going to Crucible Lake, so the search concentrated around the marked track and Crucible Stream.
But his remains were found in a different, isolated catchment.
It had been identified as a "low possibility", although searchers had gone in for a look.
Mr Gillespie still wonders how and why Dr Hawkins missed the track, the markers and the directional signs and got to be in the area where he died.
Mt Aspiring National Park has been the scene for several dramatic mountain rescues over the years, often involving helicopters filled with climbers and their strops and ropes.
Aoraki Mt Cook National Park has a paid search and rescue team but here the work is done by volunteer climbers, many of whom are professional guides.
Whether Mt Aspiring National Park needs its own professional team has been raised, but Mr Wayatt is happy to let the argument run its course without pushing it along.
Wanaka's volunteers are required to undergo training by national search co-ordination agencies and without it, they risk being culled from "the list".
Mr Wayatt supports the call for training, because no-one wants to fail for lack of practice.
But he is equally strong on reminding the agencies they are responsible for sending the right people into the mountains in the first place.
It is not a simple job of lowering a rope to a glacier from a helicopter and pulling a patient up.
Every time a risky recovery is completed, it creates an expectation the next operation can be done the same way.
And as more rescues or retrievals are completed, the more routine it might seem to an untrained observer.
Getting time off work to attend training was also a challenge, and appropriate government funding for volunteer training might have to be found in the future, Mr Wayatt said.
"[A helicopter] is only one tool. The people are the most valuable tool. Our list of volunteers is still our most valuable tool. No amount of money can buy that," Mr Wayatt said.
At last there's a sign the human contribution has a value.
LandSAR recently decided to insure its members. `In the last 30 years, if something has happened to us?" Mr Wayatt shrugs a silent "nothing".
"But we understand that."
Most satisfying operations
Irish Tom's dog
About 15 years ago, Mt Aspiring Station shepherd Irish Tom (Tom Mitchell) lost his sheep dog in a canyon. Mr Wayatt was asked to climb down on ropes to retrieve it.
The dog proved friendly enough to be handled, but it was huge and Mr Wayatt found it tough going climbing up with a heavy dog strapped to his back.
The plan was that part-way up, Mr Wayatt would put the dog in a scoop net slung below a helicopter, and climb the rest of the way himself.
But when the net appeared, an exhausted Mr Wayatt put himself in the net, dog and all, surprising pilot Ken Tustin.
However, the sudden change of plan went smoothly and both were delivered to safety.
The dog later underwent an expensive operation to repair broken bones and Mr Wayatt earned Irish Tom's eternal gratitude.
The Morgan Saxton search, November 2008.
The well-known and likeable Haast helicopter pilot Morgan Saxton went missing during a flight between Haast and Wanaka on November 1, 2008, aged 31.
His body was later retrieved, along with the helicopter chassis, from the bottom of Lake Wanaka after an intensive search for which the Wanaka LandSAR organisation recently received a national award.
Mr Wayatt: "It was very satisfying working with Alan [Gillespie] all that Saturday night. We were looking for Morgan alive. We had no interest in retrieving a body. That was a personal thing, that operation. Very difficult . ..
"But we worked through that Saturday night and had some really robust discussions about what we were doing and where we were going to get the best result."
The Michael Johnson search, April 2004
Yorkshire tramper Michael Johnson (37) had been missing in the Mt Aspiring National Park for more than a month before his body was found on April 25, 2004, 41 days after he had been last seen.
The Wanaka police were notified he was missing on April 8, but Mr Johnson had left few clues as to his intentions other than his plan to travel through Rabbit Pass.
Several frustrating searches were conducted before Mr Johnson's body was found, during a final helicopter sweep of the end of the last day of the search.
The route was a diversion from Rabbit Pass and was checked as an alternative.
Mr Gillespie: "I was particularly pleased to see that concluded because it had been quite some time before he was reported missing. It was just sheer investigation that put us into the right location."
The coroner later determined Mr Johnson had initially survived a fall and got into his sleeping bag but later died of his injuries. A safety beacon could have saved his life.
