Czech tourist waited a month before Routeburn rescue

She managed to reach him, however, it is believed he died not long after and she then made her way to the hut where she had sheltered since early August.

He said: “Given her experience and the avalanche risk, she decided it was best for her safety to remain in the hut and that was the correct decision to make”.

Police said they plan to try to recover the body of the man.

She advised Police the couple had entered the track on July 24 and her partner fell down a steep slope four days later.

Mr Jensen said she and her male companion, also Czech, set out on their journey on July 26 and it appeared the man’s fall happened two days later.

The woman is in hospital for a medical assessment and is in good health, although she upset by the events of the last month.

New Zealand’s Department of Conservation, who owned the warden’s hut, said there significant hazards walking the Routeburn Track in winter.

It warns that in winter the route “should only be attempted by fit, experienced and well-equipped people” and that huts are not regularly checked. But hikers were avoiding the route due to the extreme conditions.

Concerns were raised on Wednesday morning after the couple had not been heard from since starting their 32km trek, and their auto was found still in the track’s carpark.

The man’s next-of-kin had been notified of his death.

A hiker’s month-long disappearance on the trail was “very unusual”, Inspector Olaf Jensen told the New Zealand Herald, saying local police were still trying to “piece together exactly what happened”.

“She was relieved, yesterday, to be rescued”.

A search was launched after the couple’s vehicle was discovered in a carpark for the Routeburn Track on the country’s south island, around 70km from Queenstown.

The spokesman said the Routeburn Track could be a hard track to hike during the winter months.

During the summer Saxon guides groups of tourists of “average fitness” along the Routeburn and from the start of the track it takes them a day to walk to Lake Mackenzie Hut.