LIMA.- The Peruvian Police reported that last Friday, a team composed of high mountain police and private guides found the mummified body of the American mountaineer, William Stampfl58 years old, disappeared 22 years ago in Mount Huascarán.
Lenin Alvarado, from the High Mountain Rescue Department in Ancash, explained that the body was found in a state of mummification due to the low temperatures. “It was mummified and thawing,” he said, and that all of his belongings were there, including his clothes in good condition and without losing color, his harnesses, ropes, his pickaxe and his climbing boots.
The police officer, who has 16 years of experience in mountain rescue work, said he was surprised to see Stampfl still wearing his wedding ring on the ring finger of his left hand. “I’ve never seen anything like that before,” Officer Alvarado added.
In the dead man’s kangaroo they found a driver’s license that indicated that Stampfl lived in Chino, a city in San Bernardino County, California. They also found his passport, his camera, a credit card, his glasses, a pen, a voice recorder and a couple of $20 bills corroded by time.
The rescue was led by Eric Raul Albino, an experienced mountain guide, who was commissioned by Stampfl’s family after being informed by a mountaineer who discovered the body. “It was a delicate operation due to the dangerous conditions on the mountain,” said the expert.
The American mountaineer disappeared on June 24, 2002 in an avalanche with his friends Matthew Richardson, 40, and Steve Erskine, 51. After the fatal accident, only Erskine’s body was found. Richardson’s body has yet to be recovered.
Climate change
The discovery of Stampfl’s body highlights not only the risks inherent in high mountain climbing, but also the effects of climate change in the region. Mount Huascarán, part of the Cordillera Blanca, has experienced a significant reduction in its ice cover in recent decades.
The melting of glaciers, accelerated by global warming, has increased the frequency and severity of avalanches and other dangers for mountaineers. According to official data, the Cordillera Blanca has lost 27% of its ice mass in the last 50 years. This phenomenon not only transforms the landscape and challenges climbers, but also affects local communities that depend on water from the glaciers.
Source: With information from AP
