Frozen body of climber who went missing 22 years ago found on mountain
A man who disappeared 22 years ago while he was out hiking on a mountain has been found dead.
The body of American climber William Stampfl has been found on the side of the Huascaran mountain in Peru where he went missing.
The 59-year-old was first reported missing in June 2002 following an avalanche and search and rescue efforts at the time were unable to find him.
William’s body has been well preserved thanks to the Peruvian ice and has been discovered because of rising temperatures in this part of the world.
Clothes, a harness, boots, and his passport have also all been found in his possessions.
These key items have allowed police to identify him after all of this time.
William went on the hike with two other people – Steve Erskine and Matthew Richardson.
Steve’s body was previously found but Matthew’s has so far never been located.
Police officers at the scene on the mountain side (Picture: Peruvian National Police/AFP)
It was part of a 19-day round trip from California to the tallest summit in Peru.
William is now the third person who has been found dead in the mountain range just this year.
The others included an Israeli man whose body was found in May a month after he disappeared and the body of an Italian climber that was found in June.
Mount Huascaran stands 22,000 feet high and is around 270 miles north of the country’s capital city Lima.
It is a magnet for mountain climbers around the world because of its stunning climbs and snowy peaks.
But the climate crisis is impacting mountain ranges in countries like Peru and over the last six decades it has lost more than half of its glaciers.
Just between 2016 and 2020 175 glaciers have disappeared from the country, scientists found.
The previous decade has also been the hottest on the planet on record, according to the World Meteorological Organisation.
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