The body of a man who disappeared during an avalanche on Peru’s highest mountain has been found, 22 years later.
Bill Stampfl was climbing Peru’s 22,000-foot tall mountain, Huascaran, in 2002 when an avalanche struck, CBS News reported. His family knew that he was likely dead, but without a body, they could never know for sure.
Stampfl’s daughter, Jennifer, told The New York Times that she had largely accepted her father’s death but still had dreams that he was alive in Peru with amnesia and unaware of his family back in the U.S.
Stampfl’s son, Joseph, recently received a phone call from a stranger, Ryan Cooper, saying that he had found Stampfl’s body while climbing Huascaran. Cooper explained that he had found Stampfl’s body frozen but mostly intact.
“It was so out of left field. We talk about my dad, we think about him all the time,” Joseph told CBS. “You just never think you are going to get that call.”
Joseph soon called his sister to deliver the news.
“He told me that they found Dad,” she told the Times. “And I said, ‘What?’”
On June 27, Cooper and a group of climbers were making their way back down Huascaran when they saw a dark shape sitting atop the snow. He told the Times that as they approached, they realized they had discovered a body that was curled into a defensive position as if the person was trying to shield themself from an avalanche.
Cooper told the Times that the body was sitting atop the ice. “Not like half of him was under the ice or anything — he was on top of the ice,” he told the outlet.
Cooper added that the body appeared mummified, and it was clear it had been on the mountain for a “really long time.” The climbers checked a fanny pack on the body and found Stampfl’s still-legible ID card and passport. Cooper and his brother, the only two Americans in the group of climbers, decided to track down Stampfl’s family to deliver the news.
“He still had his wedding ring on his finger,” he said, “So I knew he was married, and I knew he probably had a family and somebody was expecting him home at some point. And he didn’t come home.”
Cooper told the Times that it was a coincidence they found Stampfl’s body. They couldn’t make it to the top of the mountain due to weather conditions, so they decided to take a rarely used older route down, which is how they found the body.
Cooper told the outlet he was initially disappointed about failing to reach the mountain’s summit.
“But after things worked out the way that they did, I realized I wasn’t meant to summit,” he said. “I was meant to find Bill.”
Before Cooper had even descended the mountain, he contacted his wife in Las Vegas to begin tracking down Stampfl’s family. Two days later, Cooper was on the phone with Joseph.
Stampfl’s body was recovered and is set to be cremated before being returned to his family. His wife, Janet, told CBS she is happy to bring her husband home.
“We all just dearly loved my husband. He was one of a kind,” she told the outlet. “We’re very grateful we can bring his body home to rest.”
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[[{“value”:”
The body of a man who disappeared during an avalanche on Peru’s highest mountain has been found, 22 years later.
Bill Stampfl was climbing Peru’s 22,000-foot tall mountain, Huascaran, in 2002 when an avalanche struck, CBS News reported. His family knew that he was likely dead, but without a body, they could never know for sure.
Stampfl’s daughter, Jennifer, told The New York Times that she had largely accepted her father’s death but still had dreams that he was alive in Peru with amnesia and unaware of his family back in the U.S.
Stampfl’s son, Joseph, recently received a phone call from a stranger, Ryan Cooper, saying that he had found Stampfl’s body while climbing Huascaran. Cooper explained that he had found Stampfl’s body frozen but mostly intact.
“It was so out of left field. We talk about my dad, we think about him all the time,” Joseph told CBS. “You just never think you are going to get that call.”
Joseph soon called his sister to deliver the news.
“He told me that they found Dad,” she told the Times. “And I said, ‘What?’”
On June 27, Cooper and a group of climbers were making their way back down Huascaran when they saw a dark shape sitting atop the snow. He told the Times that as they approached, they realized they had discovered a body that was curled into a defensive position as if the person was trying to shield themself from an avalanche.
Cooper told the Times that the body was sitting atop the ice. “Not like half of him was under the ice or anything — he was on top of the ice,” he told the outlet.
Cooper added that the body appeared mummified, and it was clear it had been on the mountain for a “really long time.” The climbers checked a fanny pack on the body and found Stampfl’s still-legible ID card and passport. Cooper and his brother, the only two Americans in the group of climbers, decided to track down Stampfl’s family to deliver the news.
“He still had his wedding ring on his finger,” he said, “So I knew he was married, and I knew he probably had a family and somebody was expecting him home at some point. And he didn’t come home.”
Cooper told the Times that it was a coincidence they found Stampfl’s body. They couldn’t make it to the top of the mountain due to weather conditions, so they decided to take a rarely used older route down, which is how they found the body.
Cooper told the outlet he was initially disappointed about failing to reach the mountain’s summit.
“But after things worked out the way that they did, I realized I wasn’t meant to summit,” he said. “I was meant to find Bill.”
Before Cooper had even descended the mountain, he contacted his wife in Las Vegas to begin tracking down Stampfl’s family. Two days later, Cooper was on the phone with Joseph.
Stampfl’s body was recovered and is set to be cremated before being returned to his family. His wife, Janet, told CBS she is happy to bring her husband home.
“We all just dearly loved my husband. He was one of a kind,” she told the outlet. “We’re very grateful we can bring his body home to rest.”
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