Bill Stampfl had been missing since June 2002, when he was trapped in an avalanche while climbing Huascarán, the highest peak in Peru.
Stampfl FamilyBill Stampfl, the American climber who went missing while climbing a mountain in Peru in 2002.
In June 2024, a group of mountain climbers attempting to summit Huascarán, Peru’s highest peak, stumbled upon the mummified body of a man who went missing 22 years ago.
Bill Stampfl was 58 years old when he was caught in an avalanche while climbing Huascarán in 2002. For two decades, his loved ones have mourned his death without knowing exactly where his body was. Now, rescue crews have extracted Stampfl’s corpse from the mountain and are preparing to send his remains back home to his family to finally be laid to rest.
Mountaineers Discover A Body On Peru’s Highest Peak
On June 27, 2024, American mountaineers Ryan Cooper and Wesley Waren were descending Huascarán, Peru’s 22,205-foot peak, with a group of climbers when they noticed something strange. Lying atop the ice was a dark object — and upon closer inspection, the men realized it was a mummified human body.
The discovery was made possible by rising temperatures responsible for melting the ice on Huascarán. According to Cooper, the mountain is in rough shape. “It’s basically falling apart, it’s just crumbling,” he told The New York Times.
Public DomainHuascarán, the highest mountain in Peru, is part of the Andes range.
The corpse, still wearing a jacket, boots, helmet, and gold wedding ring, was hunched over in a defensive position. The mountaineers found an identification card on the body, as well as a camera and a passport.
“Someone loved him, and someone wanted him to come home,” Cooper told CNN. “As soon as I found out he was an American climber, I knew we had a responsibility to track down the family and give them the news.”
Cooper and Waren found the corpse largely by accident. Their group was trying to reach the peak of Huascarán, but dangerous conditions forced them to turn back, and they decided to take a route that was rarely used. It was there, at roughly 17,060 feet, that the pair discovered the body of Bill Stampfl.
Who Was Bill Stampfl?
At the time of his death, 58-year-old Bill Stampfl lived in California with his wife and two children. He worked as a civil engineer and reportedly had a deep love for the mountains.
“He was a kind man. He was humble. He loved God, and he loved the mountains. He enjoyed it so much. He said he always felt closest to God when he got to the top of the mountain,” Janet Stampfl-Raymer, Stampfl’s wife, told CNN.
In June 2002, Stampfl set out on a trip to Peru to summit its highest peak with his friends Steve Erskine and Matthew Richardson. Despite only taking up mountaineering in his late 40s, Stampfl was by all accounts an experienced climber who meticulously prepared for each trek.
Stampfl FamilyStampfl was an avid mountaineer before his death in 2002.
No amount of preparation could have saved the three men on June 24, 2002, however. During the journey up Huascarán, Stampfl, Erskine, and Richardson were caught in an avalanche. Erskine’s body was found within a few days, but Stampfl and Richardson remained missing. To this day, Richardson’s remains have not been uncovered.
“It almost was kind of surreal. One day he’s here and one day he’s not,” Jennifer Stampfl, Bill Stampfl’s daughter, told The New York Times. “And we don’t know where he is.”
After Cooper found Stampfl’s body, he knew he had to track down the man’s family and give them the news. Stampfl’s children immediately hired an alpine rescue team to recover their father’s remains from the mountain on July 5. He will now be transported to Lima for cremation.
After that, Stampfl’s ashes will be sent back home to his family.
While Ryan Cooper was initially disappointed that he hadn’t reached the peak of Huascarán, the discovery of Bill Stampfl quickly quelled those feelings. “I realized I wasn’t meant to summit,” he told The New York Times. “I was meant to find Bill.”
After reading about the discovery of mountaineer Bill Stampfl’s body after 22 years, learn about Beck Weathers and his remarkable survival story on Mount Everest. Then, go inside the chilling tale of the 1972 Andes plane crash and the survivors who were forced to resort to cannibalism.
