A Canberra man reported missing after travelling to the Snowy Mountains on Saturday to hike to the summit of Mount Kosciuszko has been found alive.
Bing Wei, 61, disappeared in freezing conditions after saying he was going bush walking, leaving police and family concerned for his welfare.
A public appeal for information and a geo-targeted SMS was issued earlier today amid a ground search lasting almost 12 hours.
Police held serious concerns for Bing's welfare amid extremely challenging weather conditions with snow, wind and poor visibility. Temperatures fell to minus 8 degrees at Thredbo last night.
Bing had initially been reported missing to the Australian Federal Police and the information passed onto officers attached to Monaro Police District, who commenced inquiries into his whereabouts.
Local police commenced a search of the Thredbo area. His white sedan was found in the Cascades car park on The Alpine Way near Dead Horse Gap, about seven kilometres south-west of Thredbo.
A co-ordinated search was launched about 10.30pm involving specialist NSW police alpine operators, Traffic and Highway Patrol police, members of the SES and Fire and Rescue NSW.
A command post was established in Jindabyne Police Station with a multi-agency response led by police from the Monaro police department and involving specialist police Alpine operators, SES and Fire and Rescue NSW continued throughout the night.
Shortly before 9am, a member of the public alerted searchers that a man had been found on The Alpine Way at Thredbo. He was brought to Jindabyne where he was assessed by NSW Ambulance paramedics and found to be cold but otherwise unharmed.
Bing had last been known to be in the Thredbo area at about 5.30pm on Saturday.
