'Sheer Coincidence' Body of Missing Climber Was Found

On Tuesday, the world learned that the body of a long-missing American climber had been found on the highest mountain in Peru. William Stampfl's children learned the body of their father, who was caught in an avalanche on Huascaran in 2002 at age 58, in late June. "It was so out of left field," says Joseph Stampfl of the call he received from the American who encountered William Stampfl's body during his own descent on the 22,205-foot Huascaran, per the AP. CNN reports American brothers Ryan Cooper and Wesley Waren found the body on June 27 while coming down the mountain after an unsuccessful push for the summit.

They were able to identify him via the driver's license Stampfl still had on him at around 16,500 feet. The New York Times describes the discovery as "sheer coincidence," reporting that after Cooper's climbing group decided the conditions were too perilous to reach the summit, they returned down using "an older route that is rarely used now because of how the environment of the mountain has changed."

"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," said Cooper, 44, of Las Vegas, per CNN. After Joseph Stampfl received the call, the family hired a group of elite Peruvian police officers and mountain guides to remove Stampfl's body from the mountain. The family says he was located some 3,000 to 4,000 feet below where he and his two friends were believed to have died. Steve Erskine's body was recovered shortly after the accident. The body of Matthew Richardson remains missing, reports the AP.

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One of the police officers who assisted in the recovery operation described finding Stampfl's sunglasses, camera, voice recorder, and two decomposing $20 bills in a hip pouch. "I've never seen anything like that," the officer said. "For 22 years, we just kind of put in our mind: 'This is the way it is. Dad's part of the mountain, and he's never coming home,'" says daughter Jennifer Stampfl. Stampfl's body is being transported to Lima for cremation; his ashes will then be returned to the US. (More mountain climber stories.)