The man who died falling into Mount Ruapehu's crater lake previously saved the life of a toddler and freed two children after a tractor-trailer flipped upside down after it fell down a ditch.
Thirty nine-year-old Richard Ebbett of Taupo was found deceased on Saturday morning, in what police described as an "absolute tragedy".
Mr Ebbett left home two days earlier to go skiing at Whakapapa ski field on Mount Ruapehu, but he failed to return.
Initial indications suggested he accidentally fell into the lake.
The Manawatu Standard reported in 2001, Mr Ebbett, a keen motocross rider, was travelling from an event in Kawhia when he saw a tractor-trailer crash down a bank.
"I jumped out while the van was still going. I just ran down to get the kids out," he told the Manawatu Standard at the time.
The driver died at the scene, while two children were trapped and a toddler was thrown into a drain.
Mr Ebbett managed to free the children and pull the toddler, who was face down, out of the drain, the Manawatu Standard reported.
Police said the child would not have survived without Mr Ebbett's help.
Senior Sergeant Grant Alabaster described Mr Ebbett's death as "an absolute tragedy for this man's family".
The matter has been referred to the Coroner.
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