Australia Weather News

A man and his dog, who were rescued in the midst of a blizzard in the Brindabella Ranges last night, were saved thanks to an emergency app and a game of Marco Polo.

The man, in his 20s, was exploring the snow-capped Brindabellas when his car slid down an embankment and became trapped.

Rescuers said the man and his large dog were able to climb out of the gully and back onto the road.

But the pair were still lost, late at night on the isolated road and in the middle of a blizzard.

With snow and fresh winds, the apparent temperature was -10 degrees Celsius, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.

The man called emergency services for help, but waited on the road in the snow for an hour as they searched for him.

"He'd estimated his position to be on Brindabella Road … turned out he was on Two Sticks Road," Emergency Services commander Paul Flynn said.

Eventually, rescue crews were able to track the man down, after he used an app to pinpoint his location.

"He was able to find his latitude and longitude, so when he gave us those, he was in a different area to where we were heading," Commander Flynn said.

Crews then used their sirens and lights in a game of Marco Polo until the man and his dog were found.

"[He was] freezing. It was blizzard conditions," Commander Flynn said.

"But I think he was in good spirits, from what I understand. Probably cold, but uninjured, and had his dog, and the dog was uninjured. So he was probably happy to be okay."

Commander Flynn encouraged other Canberrans to download the Emergency+ app, which uses GPS functionality to provide critical location details.

"That way they can get exact coordinates," he said.

ABC