Two climbers have spent the night perched precariously atop a 65-metre vertical rock in Tasmania after becoming trapped in high winds.

The interstate climbers got stuck on the top of the Totem Pole, at remote Cape Hauy on the Tasman Peninsula, about 6pm Wednesday.

The sheer-sided sea stack, which is popular with daredevil rock climbers, rises out of the ocean just off the coast.

“The climbers reported that due to high winds their ropes had become entangled and they were unable to reach safety,” Senior Constable Callum Herbert from Tasmania Police search and rescue said.

“Initial attempts to rescue the climbers by helicopter with deployment of a vertical rescue team was aborted due to high winds.

“Members of the Climbing Club of Tasmania’s vertical rescue team joined with the police and ambulance to attempt to reach them via nearby cliffs, but that was also unsuccessful due to a dangerous swell.”

A complicated vertical rescue underway. Photo: Tasmania Police

About 11.30pm, rescue teams, who had hiked in from Fortescue Bay on foot, were able to locate the trapped climbers.

“Members from the Climbing Club of Tasmania Vertical Rescue Team conducted a complicated vertical rescue of the two climbers.

“This involved members of the club partially scaling the Totem Pole in wet, dark and windy conditions.”

The stranded climbers were secured to rescue ropes, moved to cliffs on the mainland and, as dawn broke, they were hauled approximately 50 metres to safety.

They were treated at the scene by a wilderness paramedic. Aside from being hungry, tired and cold, they had no injuries.

The pair had reasonable climbing experience.

“This was a particularly complicated rescue from a sheer-sided standing rock 60 metres in the air,” Herbert said.

“It was done at night in cold, wet and windy conditions by a team of dedicated volunteers and they have ours and the climbers’ heartfelt thanks.”