With little food and no way of contacting the outside world, Michael Bowman hunkered down in freezing Tasmanian wilderness for more than a week waiting to be found.
On Tuesday afternoon, a rescue helicopter reached him.
The 57-year-old from Mt Waverley in Melbourne had set out on a solo bushwalk in the Lake St Clair region in early July.
He had set up camp at Mt Cuvier to do day walks in the area but got into trouble on a trip to nearby Coal Hill.
"He placed his pack down and became separated from his pack when heavy fog came into the area," Senior Constable Kristy Eyles said.
"He was unable to relocate his pack and spent a night in the cold.
"The next day he traced his footsteps back ... and made it back to his tent where he has been for approximately the last nine to 10 days."
Mr Bowman, an experienced hiker, couldn't set off his emergency beacon because it was in his lost pack and opted stay in his mustard-coloured tent.
It was spotted from the air and he was winched to safety.
Mr Bowman gave a thumbs up to media and seemed in good health when he landed in Hobart, where he has been taken for precautionary medical checks.
It followed a three-day search, which began after the alarm was raised when he didn't finish his hike on Saturday as planned.
"Without the experience that he's had in alpine trips in Victoria and also in Tasmania, it's likely we would have had a very different outcome," Senior Constable Eyles said.
"This is a great reflection of Mr Bowman's skill and experience that he's done the right thing and waited there to be rescued.
"I reckon he would be looking forward to a steak."
Crews were hampered by dangerous weather and metre-high snow on the ground.
Blizzard-like conditions has forced the evacuation of several bushwalkers from the Cradle Mountain area in recent days, including a British man and Hobart school group from Dove Lake on Tuesday.
A West Australian man and his daughter, who became stranded by snow in the region two days ago, have also been retrieved safe and well.
Terry Koziniec and Emily, 15, were reached by a search party on Tuesday afternoon and flown to safety by helicopter.
"I think we were prepared for where we were going but it was rough and it was such slow going," Mr Koziniec told the ABC.
"The cold and the wind and the rain wasn't really an issue, but the track between the huts that was meant to take three hours, pretty much took three days."
It comes after a Brisbane man was on Monday rescued from the northwest end of Lake St Clair and two NSW hikers were plucked from the Walls of Jerusalem National Park to the south.
People are urged to not go bushwalking unless they are very well-prepared for freezing weather.
Australian Associated Press
