An 86-year-old Austrian man has been reunited with climbing equipment he lost in a glacier crevasse more than six decades ago, after melting ice brought the belongings back to the surface, CNN reported.
A hiker discovered the backpack last month on the Sulztalferner glacier in Austria’s western Tyrol region, at an altitude of nearly 3,000 metres. Austrian police found an ice axe, camera, whistle and a weathered document folder inside.
Police initially investigated whether the backpack could be linked to an old mountaineering accident. Documents inside eventually revealed the owner’s name, allowing officers to trace him.
Investigators found that the man had lost the equipment during a climbing expedition in August 1963. He had fallen into a crevasse while roped to several companions. Although his companions managed to pull him out, he abandoned the backpack to reduce his weight. The equipment remained buried in the glacier for 63 years before emerging as the ice melted.
The man, whose name has not been released, could not collect the belongings himself because of ill health. Police instead handed them over to his son, who expressed gratitude for their return, according to Tirol police.
The unusual discovery comes as glaciers in the Alps and elsewhere continue to shrink because of rising global temperatures. Melting ice has increasingly exposed objects and human remains that had remained preserved for decades or even thousands of years. In 1991, hikers in the Italian Alps discovered the remarkably preserved body of Ötzi the Iceman, who died around 5,300 years ago.
