Five hikers are lucky to be alive after a Mount Taranaki tramp yesterday

Emergency teams took four hours to reach the group - one being given CPR during the wait.

Helicopters struggled to reach the summit due to weather conditions, as a team also approached on foot.

Rescuers arrived to find one person in a critical condition, two seriously inured and two moderate - and all were flown out when the weather improved.

Search and Rescue Incident Controller David Bentley says without that break in the weather, the hikers could've died.