Base jumper 'bounces 20m or more' down cliff near Wanaka

A local Wanaka woman has been rescued by a Wanaka Search and Rescue team this morning after falling down a cliff west of Treble Cone while base jumping.

Wanaka SAR's incident management team co-ordinator Bill Day said the woman, believed to be in her 50s, had been base jumping with a male companion in the Matukituki Valley when she "bounced twenty metres or more down the cliff" about 6.45am.

Her male companion rang the police about 8am and an Alpine Rescue helicopter with two Wanaka SAR volunteers was dispatched to where the woman was lying on a ledge, too injured to move, he said.

Mr Day said the helicopter, with SAR volunteer suspended on a strop 30m below the helicopter, flew to the cliff where the volunteer attached himself to the woman and they were transported to a nearby roadside to a waiting St John Ambulance.

The woman is believed to have been suffering from mild hypothermia and minor injuries.

St John communication advisor Gerard Campbell said she was assessed and treated at the scene but was not transported. 

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