On Monday night, 38 people, mostly from Invercargill and Winton, were saved after spending almost 20 hours trapped in their snow-buried vehicles on a 1370m-high hill above Piano Flat, near Roxburgh.
Fork Station manager Reagan Tickle, who drove one of the snowcats used to save them, told Fairfax yesterday the police rescue operation was "hopeless'' and put more lives at risk.
He and Ralph Moyle, who own the snowcats, were contacted by police on Sunday night.
They spent the night preparing and were ready at 5.30am on Monday, but could not contact police for most of the morning, he said.
"We could have been away by 6am and back by 10am, but we had no communication with them.''
Mr Moyle, who is over 70, had a heart attack and was recovering in Dunedin Hospital after staying awake for 38 hours, Mr Tickle said.
"The police were all worried about changing shifts after eight hours and he was sitting in the cold, waiting to depart.''
Asked to comment on the concerns, a police spokeswoman said a formal debrief would be held on the operation which would cover the decisions and resources used.
"The aim of the operation was to effect a safe rescue that included the safety of persons who were being deployed on to the mountain. This was achieved.
"A large number of people were involved in this operation, including volunteers, all playing key roles which resulted in a successful outcome.''
There were always lessons to be learnt from operations such as this and that was the purpose of the debrief, she said.
When approached by The Otago Daily Times yesterday, Mr Tickle said he did not want to comment further.
