Four women were rescued from The Remarkables last night after becoming separated from each other.
Lakes District Air Rescue Trust manager Ed Halson said the women were walking the Queen's Drive route on the western face of the mountain range yesterday when they became split into two groups and caught out by darkness.
Unable to communicate amongst themselves, one of the womencalled 111 about 9pm to raise the alarm.
Mr Halson said three members of Queenstown's Alpine and Cliff Rescue team were dropped as near the women as possible.
One group was under the southern face of Double Cone, while the other was at the head of Wye Creek about 1.5km further south.
The ACR team members escorted the women to a safe pickup spot, from where they were flown to their vehicles about midnight.
The women were "a little cold'' but otherwise fine, he said.