An English woman has detailed how she survived a night on Mount Ruapehu injured after falling several times down a cliff face.
Suzannah Gilford, a primary school teacher, was reported missing on Thursday night after attempting to walk to the summit of Mt Ruapehu
Her friend called police after losing contact with Ms Gilford whose last message suggested she was lost somewhere on the mountain.
Taking to her Instagram to share the story of her survival Ms Gilford said she was climbing in the snow for the first time ever and reached the crater.
"But slipped on ice and saw myself heading for the rocks.
"No recollection of crashing but must have messed up my face and head," she wrote.
Realising she had no mobile service hours after her fall Ms Gilford decided to attempt to rock climb further down the cliff fast.
"I found one large perfect handhold rock that was stable but I held on too long, heard the terrifying crunching sound and knew what was about to happen... and I somersaulted backwards (4 times?) down the cliff and think I landed on my feet on the snow at the bottom."
She managed to then find herself with some mobile service and was able to call emergency services and share her GPS location.
By this point the Taupo Greenlea Rescue helicopter was dispatched along with a paramedic and volunteers from the Ruapehu Alpine Rescue Organisation (RARO) began search high probability areas on the mountain.
As poor weather on the upper mountain hampered the helicopter search, emergency services were able to get a GPS reading of Ms Gilford.
Waiting for emergency services to find her, Ms Gilford stayed warm in her sleeping bag trying to admire the milky way.
After seven hours lost on the mountain she finally heard rescuers, who were RARO volunteers that were dropped off by the helicopter in the hopes of finding her by foot.
Police say Ms Gilford was found at about 2.30am precariously close to the edge of a large waterfall, cold, tired and with obvious injuries.
She was assisted by RARO back to an alpine hut to bunk down for the night before being picked up in the morning by Taupo's Greenlea helicopter and taken to Rotorua Hospital for treatment.
"So thankful to the volunteer rescuers who searched hours for me, stayed with me, and then went off to work," wrote Ms Gilford.
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