A Dunedin man who has tramped in the Silver Peaks for more than 30 years has advised inexperienced trampers to explore the area with a tramping club rather than on their own.
"The Silver Peaks can be brilliant on a good day, but the weather can be foul and there are some very steep hills," David Barnes said.
Eight international students, who told police they had not tramped in the Silver Peaks before, were rescued early on Saturday after missing the trail to the Jubilee hut and having to wait several hours in freezing winds and snow flurries to be rescued.
After calling for help via cellphone, they were spotted by Otago Regional Rescue Helicopter pilot Graeme Gale using night-vision goggles and were flown off the hills about 1.30am.
Five were suffering from hypothermia.
Incident controller Constable Don Peat said there would have been "some very sick people or bodies" if the group had stayed in the open all night.
Mr Barnes (45), who is a member of the Federation of New Zealand Mountain Clubs national executive and is also an Otago Tramping and Mountaineering Club committee member, said he was not sure if any of the trampers would have died, but experienced trampers were well aware the weather in the area could deteriorate quickly.
He was part of the search team which found three Dunedin teenagers dead in the Silver Peaks in 1983.
William Mitchell, Shane Cockerill and Douglas Pillidge were not scouts, as published in yesterday's Otago Daily Times, but were Logan Park High School pupils and friends.
They were walking to the Jubilee hut when they lost their way.
Police said at the time they believed the teenagers had become disoriented in fog on the first day of what was to be a three-day tramp and were then caught in a blizzard.
The ODT report on the boys' deaths said three scouts who had gone missing in the same area about three years before were rescued safe and well.
Mr Barnes said the Lands and Survey Department erected two large warning signs along the Jubilee hut track after the 1983 fatalities.
The signs, which were still in place, warned the track was suitable for experienced trampers only and that the weather could deteriorate rapidly.
"The best way for inexperienced people to explore the area is to join a club.
"That way they get the benefit of local experience and local knowledge about the weather and route."
