While commending a lost woman's use of social media to raise the alarm, police say she could have been found sooner if she had contacted them thanks to new technology.

Sergeant Dave Raffan says family members contacted police after receiving a Facebook message from the 41-year-old woman saying she was lost on Mt Te Aroha about 2.30pm on Monday.

A woman used social media to raise the alarm she was lost on Mt Te Aroha on Monday afternoon.

'As a result of that call a search and rescue operation involving Police and about 30 Land Search and Rescue volunteers from Waihi, Paeroa and Te Aroha was launched.

'She left her car at the Wairongomai car park and climbed up towards Mt Te Aroha, leaving the main track. She was wearing only light clothing and jeans and weather at the time was wet with low cloud.”

Dave says once the alarm was raised, police were able to narrow down a search area by 7pm, thanks to new phone tracking technology.

'SAR teams then moved into the area and located her in a stream about 200m from the car park about 8.20pm. Wet, cold and tired the woman was walked out and reunited with her family who expressed their sincere thanks to all those involved.

'While everyone involved is very happy with the result there are a couple of things Police would like to point out that could have concluded the search even sooner.”

Dave advises people to firstly, check the weather and ensure you are well equipped for the conditions.

'If going for a day for instance, ensure you're equipped to spend the night if you have to. Secondly, if going into the bush tramping, don't leave the tracks and tell friends and family which tracks you intend using. That way, if something goes wrong we know where to start looking for you.

'Thirdly, ensure that the emergency services are the first people you contact to raise the alarm, you never know, your battery could give out and that first call maybe the only one you get to make,” says Dave.

He says Monday's successful search was the third SAR operation in as many days.

'A major part of that success is the assistance provided by the unpaid Land SAR volunteers.

'These unpaid volunteers never fail to turn out when called to assist Police in searches and their efforts are worthy of high praise. The best way we can assist them in their roles is taking the steps mentioned above to prevent tragedies occurring in our bush.”