Experienced mountaineers Lindsay Maindonald and Dave Sattler were on their way up Mt Taranaki when they spotted two objects above them that looked like rocks.
It soon became clear to the Eltham adventurers, however, that they weren’t rocks.
What they found were two inexperienced climbers - a couple from overseas - frozen by fear 2000 metres above sea level and out of their depth.
With the sun going down and the icy conditions worsening, they had to think fast.
So, Mr Maindonald fashioned a makeshift rope from his spare thermal underwear, tying it around the woman's waist and inching down the mountain to safety.
He told TVNZ1’s Seven Sharp the chances of the climbers making their way down were slim at the rate they were going.
“It was an accident waiting to happen,” Mr Maindonald said.
“I thought, we need a rope … the only thing I had was my longjohns.”
Hear about the rest of the rescue in the video above.
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