The golden weather has lead to one of the quietest summer’s in recent memory for search and rescue services in Aoraki/Mt Cook National Park and Queenstown.

Aoraki SAR team leader Andrew Tinder said despite more people heading to the park, it’s been the quietest year for search and rescue operations in his seven years on the job.

“We’ve had 15 jobs over the summer season, where normally we would get that just over Christmas and New Year,” Tinder said. “We haven’t had a major accident all year – a few years ago we had eight body recoveries in one summer. This season we’ve had none.”

By contrast, the previous two summers were the worst Tinder has experienced, as people were caught out by unsettled weather.

Tinder said about 40 per cent of operations in the region were for hunters, with the balance split between trampers, climbers, and daywalkers.

Queenstown has also had a quiet season. Wakatipu LandSAR alpine cliff rescue specialist Chris Prudden said it had been one of the quietest Januarys in his 16 years in the region.

“We’ve only had two rescues in January, and four or five in December,” Prudden said. “We are quite surprised.”

Prudden said the warmer weather meant people seemed to be heading for a swim, rather than a walk in the hills. Soft snow conditions also meant people were staying out of alpine areas.

Wanaka SAR reported a typical season, with 10 rescues in December and January.

Volunteer Phillip Melchior said rescues were more straightforward as more people were carrying PLBs.

“We haven’t had a full blown search for about six or seven years,” Melchior said.

Tinder agreed: “I can’t even remember the last full-on search we’ve had it’s been so long. People have clicked on to leaving their intentions and carrying beacons.”

In the North Island, police have warned people about the dangers of walking the Tongariro Alpine Crossing following a number of rescues on the walk.

Senior Constable Barry Shepherd said police rescued six people in a week in January, all of whom weren’t prepared for the challenging alpine environment.

Despite the busy week, Shepherd said it had been a typical season for search and rescue services and he believed, given the growth in popularity of the crossing, there were less rescues as a proportion of walkers.

There hadn’t been any rescues off Mt Ngauruhoe this season, which was unusual, he said. Last year DOC removed signage indicating the route up the iconic volcano and had been asking people not to climb the peak as it is sacred for Maori.