A back pack belonging to an Auckland woman missing in Mt Aspiring National Park since last week has been found near the Dart River.
Irina Yun, 36, was last seen at 9.30am on Wednesday after leaving the Aspiring Hut for the Dart Hut over the Cascade Saddle.
Search teams located her pack beside the Dart River on Monday morning, and the police believe its condition indicates it was torn from Ms Yun by the force of water.
One of the search team leaders, Gary Dickson, says at the time, the river would have been flowing at an extremely high rate of 700 cumecs and would have been "unforgiving".
The Dart River, flowing at just 70 cumecs on Monday, was still too high to search.
A specialised team, which may include a search dog, will go back to the area on Tuesday to try to locate Ms Yun's body.
