The body of an American climber buried by an avalanche 22 years ago in Peru is found in the ice

Lima Peru — Police in Peru said Tuesday they found the body of an American climber who was buried by an avalanche 22 years ago while trying to scale one of the highest peaks in the Andes with two friends.

William Stampfl’s body was discovered Friday near a camp 5,200 meters (17,060 feet) above sea level, police in the Ancash region told The Associated Press. The 58-year-old man was attempting to climb the 6,768-metre Mount Huascarán when the avalanche occurred, presumably killing the three climbers.

Police said Stampfl’s body and clothing had been preserved by ice and frigid temperatures. His driver’s license was also found inside a fanny pack that had also been preserved in the cold. He says he was a resident of Chino in San Bernardino County in California.

Efforts to recover Stampfl’s remains began last week, after an American climber stumbled upon the frozen body while en route to the summit of Huascarán. The climber opened the bag and read the name on the driver’s license. He called Stampfl’s relatives, who contacted local mountain guides.

A team of 13 mountaineers participated in the recovery operation, including five officers from an elite police unit and eight mountain guides who work for Grupo Alpamayo, a local tour operator that takes climbers to Huascarán and other peaks in the Andes.

Stampfl’s body was taken down over the weekend and taken to a morgue in the city of Yungay.

Eric Raúl Albino, director of the Alpamayo Group, said Stampfl’s family contacted him and hired him to recover the body from the mountain.

“The climber (who was the first to encounter Stampfl’s body) opened the hip bag and noticed that there was a driver’s license there with his name and address on it,” Albino told The Associated Press. “So he contacted the family and then they contacted me.”

Lenin Alvardo, one of the police officers who participated in the recovery operation, said Stampfl’s clothes were still largely intact, preserved by the cold. The hip bag with his driver’s license also contained a pair of sunglasses, a camera, a voice recorder and two decaying $20 bills.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Alvarado said.

Huascarán is the highest peak in Peru. Hundreds of climbers visit the mountain each year with local guides and it usually takes about a week to reach the top.

However, climate change has affected Huascarán and the surrounding peaks over 5,000 meters, known as the Cordillera Blanca. According to official figures, the Cordillera Blanca has lost 27% of its ice cover in the last five decades.

Stampfl was with his friends Matthew Richardson and Steve Erskine when they attempted to ascend Huascarán in 2002. They had traveled around the world to climb challenging mountains and had summited Kilimanjaro, Rainier, Shasta and Denali, according to a Los Angeles Times report in that moment.

Erskine’s body was found shortly after the avalanche in Huascarán, but Richardson’s is still missing.