An 86-year-old Austrian man has been reunited with climbing equipment he was forced to abandon in a glacier crevasse more than six decades ago, after melting ice brought the long-lost belongings back to the surface.
A hiker discovered the backpack on the Sulztalferner glacier in Austria’s western Tyrol region last month, at nearly 3,000 meters (9,800 feet) above sea level, according to Austrian police.
Inside was a collection of items that had been preserved in the ice for decades, including an ice axe, camera, whistle and weathered document folder.
Police officers investigated the discovery to see if the rucksack was evidence of a long-ago mountaineering accident. They were able to make out the owner’s name among the documents found inside, leading to his identification.
Investigators learned that the man had lost the equipment during a climbing trip across the glacier in August 1963. He had fallen into a crevasse while roped together with several companions, police said. The others managed to pull him to safety, but he discarded his backpack in an effort to reduce his weight.
