Police carry a body, identified as that of American climber Bill Stumpf, on the Huascaran Mountain in Huaraz, Peru, on Friday. Peruvian authorities said they discovered Stumpf’s mummified body.
Peruvian National Police/AP
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Peruvian National Police/AP
LIMA, Peru — Twenty-two years ago, American climber Bill Stampfl was buried by an avalanche while climbing one of the highest peaks in the Andes.
His family knew there was little hope of finding him alive or even retrieving his body from the thick snow and frozen ice fields that cover the 6,700-meter (22,000-foot) Huascaran peak.
But in June, Stumpf’s son received a call from a stranger who said he had seen the climber’s frozen and mostly intact body while he was climbing Huascaran Peak.
“This is so outrageous. We talk about my dad and we think about him all the time,” Joseph Stumpfer said. “You never think you’re going to get that call.”
He later shared the news with his family.
“It’s just shocking,” said Jennifer Stampfl, the climber’s daughter. “When you get the call that he’s been found, your heart sinks. You don’t know exactly how to feel at first.”
On Tuesday, Peruvian police said they found Stampf’s body on the mountain where an avalanche buried him in 2002 while the 58-year-old was climbing with two friends who also died.
A team of police officers and mountain guides placed Stampfield’s body on a stretcher, covered it with an orange tarp and slowly carried it off the iceberg. The body was found at an altitude of 5,200 meters (17,060 feet), about a nine-hour hike from one of the campsites where climbers had stopped while climbing the steep peaks of Huascarán.
Jennifer Stampfer said the family planned to move the body to a funeral home in the Peruvian capital, Lima, where it would be cremated and the ashes returned home.
“For 22 years, we thought to ourselves: ‘This is what it is. Dad is part of the mountain and he will never come home,'” she said.
Police said Stampfield’s body and clothes were preserved in the freezing cold. His driver’s license was found in a hip bag. He is said to be a resident of Chino, California, in San Bernardino County.
Efforts to retrieve Stampfel’s body began last week after an American climber discovered his frozen body while heading to the summit of Huascaran. The climber opened the bag and read the name on the driver’s license. He called Stumpf’s relative, who then contacted a local mountain guide.
Joseph Stampfl said they worked with the Peruvian Mountain Rescue Association to retrieve his father’s body, some 915 to 1,200 meters (3,000 to 4,000 meters) below where he and his two friends were believed to have died. feet).
“He’s not frozen anymore,” the son said. “He still had his boots on.”
A team of 13 climbers took part in the recovery operation, including five police officers from the elite police force and eight mountain guides working for Grupo Alpamayo, a local travel agency that leads climbers to Huasca and other peaks of the Andes.
Eric Raul Albino, director of Grupo Alpamayo, said Stampf’s family hired him to retrieve the body.
Lenin Alvardo, one of the police officers involved in the rescue operation, said most of Stampf’s clothes were still intact. The fanny pack that contained the driver’s license also contained a pair of sunglasses, a camera, a tape recorder and two rotten $20 bills. There is also a golden wedding ring on her left hand.
“I’ve never seen anything like this,” Alvarado said.
Huascaran Mountain is the highest peak in Peru. Hundreds of climbers visit the mountain every year with local guides, and it usually takes them about a week to reach the summit.
However, climate change is already affecting Huascaran and the surrounding peaks over 5,000 meters above sea level, known as the White Mountains. According to official figures, 27% of the Sierra Blanca ice cap has disappeared over the past 50 years.
In 2002, Stampfl attempted to climb Huascaran Mountain with friends Matthew Richardson and Steve Erskine. They traveled the world, climbed challenging peaks and climbed to the peaks of Mount Kilimanjaro, Mount Rainier, Mount Shasta and Mount Denali, the Los Angeles Times reported at the time.
Erskine’s body was found shortly after the avalanche, but Richardson’s body remains missing.
Jennifer Stampfl said a commemorative plaque was placed in memory of the three friends at the top of Bald Mountain in Southern California, where the three received training for the expedition. She said they may return to the scene with her father’s body.
Stampf’s wife, Janet Stampf-Remer, said that when her husband is not working as a civil engineer, he enjoys being a mountain climber.
“He was a kind man. He was humble. He loved God and he loved the mountains,” she said.
“We both love my husband very much. He is one of a kind,” she said. “We are so grateful to be able to bring his body home to rest in peace.”
Stampf’s daughter said he carefully planned his climbing expeditions. She also said he was modest and didn’t like to draw attention to himself.
“The fact is, he was in the news, but that’s not my father,” she said.
