"Reluctant heroes" Lionel Clay and Davie Robinson, of Wanaka, have received national recognition for their part in a search and rescue operation in April.
The men have been given the Land Search and Rescue (LandSAR) New Zealand Supreme Award.
Mr Clay and Mr Robinson have been members of LandSAR Wanaka for nearly a decade and said the operation, involving winching an injured canyoner out of a deep gorge, was one of the toughest they could recall.
"It was by far the most 'out there' thing I've ever done," Mr Clay said.
"The combination of the environment and being inside the canyon in the helicopter, it seemed pretty damn serious ...
there was a lot of things we had no control over.""Normally, you try and make sure there's no risk in a rescue ... but this time there were so many unknowns," Mr Robinson said.
The rescue operation was launched after an experienced canyoner fell into Stewart Creek, near Makarora, breaking his leg, and his female companion made a difficult climb out of the steep gorge to raise the alarm.
While the victim's injury was "incapacitating but not life-threatening", the potential for bad weather, which could have caused hypothermia or flooded the gorge, prompted the team to "go all out" and proceed with the recovery after dark that same night, Mr Clay said.
The men maintained the award belonged just as much to the rest of rescue team, including helicopter pilot Graeme Gale for his "outstanding" display of flying within the narrow confines of the gorge.
LandSAR Wanaka chairman Roy Bailey said the operation was unique because it had an extremely narrow margin for error and it had combined several technical skills, including night vision work and winching.
He congratulated the men on their efforts and said it was "an honour" receiving the award for them.
"They're pretty reluctant heroes."
Mr Clay, an experienced recreational climber, said the most rewarding aspect of search and rescue work was "successfully extracting someone who's in a lot of danger".
Internationally qualified mountain guide Mr Robinson said being part of LandSAR was a great way of using his professional abilities to give back to the community in a volunteer capacity.
"There's not many places you could use my skills and this is one of them, and it might be me [that needs to be rescued] one day," Mr Robinson said.
LandSAR Wanaka also won the LandSAR New Zealand Supreme Award in 2009 for locating and retrieving the body of Haast helicopter pilot Morgan Saxton from Lake Wanaka.
