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2 months ago
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A Nevada man shared the shocking details of a discovery he made while hiking one of the world's tallest mountains in Peru that ended a 22-year long mystery.
Ryan Cooper and his team were descending the Huascaran peak in the Andes mountains after an unsuccessful summit push in June when they noticed an anomaly in the glacier landscape.
An ice melt revealed the mummified remains of missing climber William Stampfl who was reported missing in June 2002, aged 59, when an avalanche buried his climbing party.
Stampfl's body was frozen in the fetal position and his clothes, harness and boots had been well-preserved by the ice and freezing temperatures.
'As we got closer that object began to take shape, we could see it was a climber,' Cooper told KVVU. 'As we got closer we could tell the climber had been there for quite some time.'
Ryan Cooper (pictured) was descending the Huascaran peak in the Andes mountains in June when his team discovered the mummified remains of a missing climber
William Stampfl (pictured) was reported missing in June 2002, aged 59, when an avalanche buried his climbing party
Cooper posted pictures dry tooling on a wall the day they found Stampfl's body
Stampfl's California ID was found among his possessions, allowing for Cooper to identify him and contact his loved ones.
The hip pouch with his driving license also contained a pair of sunglasses, a camera, a voice recorder and two decomposing $20 bills.
'I noticed right off the bat this climber had a wedding ring on, you could see his ring, it hit me, this guy had a family, at least a wife and they were expecting him home and he never came home,' Cooper said.
'We saw he was from Chino, California, he was American. So me and my brother realized we were the ones responsible for finding his family.'
Cooper contact Stampfl's family to let them know he found their father and sprang into action to help them bring him home.
'Twenty-two years later you're getting a phone call. They already accepted the fact he was going to be part of the mountain, to get that phone call is quite a shock,' Cooper said.
Stampfl's California ID was found among his possessions, allowing for Cooper to identify him and contact his loved ones
Stampfl's body was frozen in the fetal position and his clothes, harness and boots had been well-preserved by the ice and freezing temperatures
Cooper worker with Stampfl's family to help recover his body from the mountain and bring his remains back to the United States
The mountains of northeastern Peru, home to snowy peaks such as Huascaran and Cashan, are a favorite with mountaineers from around the world
Stampfl's son, Joseph, was shocked to hear his father's body had finally been found.
'To get that call first thing on a Saturday was pretty surreal. It took me a little while to process. At first I thought this was not real,' he told DailyMail.com.
He immediately got in touch with his sister Jennifer before they all got on a call with his stepmother, uncle and Cooper.
They all then worked on the logistics of recovering Stampfl's body from the mountain and bringing him back to the US.
The family enlisted the services of a rescue company called the Peruvian Mountain Rescue Association to bring their father's remains down the mountain.
A group of policemen and mountain guides put his body on a stretcher, covered it in an orange tarp, and slowly took it down the icy mountain.
He will be cremated before his ashes are sent back to the US and his family is planning a special hike to spread the ashes at one of his favorite spots, the top of Mount Baldy.
Stampfl (pictured his wife Janet Stampfl-Raymer) will be cremated and his family plans to spread his ashes one of his favorite spots, the top of Mount Baldy
Stampfl (left) died with friends Matthew Richardson and Steve Erskine (right) when they attempted to ascend the more than 22,000ft high mountain in 2002. The body of Erskine was found shortly after the avalanche, but Richardson's is still missing
Stampfl died with friends Matthew Richardson and Steve Erskine when they attempted to ascend the more than 22,000ft high mountain in 2002.
Erskine's body was found shortly after the avalanche, but Richardson's is still missing.
The mountains of northeastern Peru, home to snowy peaks such as Huascaran and Cashan, are a favorite with mountaineers from around the world.
Hundreds of climbers visit the mountain each year with local guides, and it takes them about a week to reach the summit.
There has been an increase in the discoveries of remains of missing hikers, skiers and climbers as glaciers increasingly melt worldwide.
English (US)