Austrian climber gets backpack back 63 years after losing it in glacier
An Austrian mountaineer has been reunited with a backpack he abandoned deep in a glacier crevasse more than six decades ago after melting ice finally brought his belongings back to the surface. The man, now 86, lost the rucksack during a climbing expedition in August 1963 after falling into a crevasse on the Sulztalferner glacier in Austria’s Tyrol region, CNN reported. He survived. His backpack…
An 86-year-old Austrian mountaineer has been reunited with a backpack he abandoned on a glacier 63 years ago. In August 1963, while on an expedition with several friends, the climber fell into a crevasse on the Sulztalferner glacier in Austria's Tyrol region. He survived, but his backpack did not. Recently, a hiker spotted the long-lost equipment on the glacier at around 3,000 meters altitude.
Inside were an ice axe, camera, whistle and documents. Police were able to identify the owner using the documents, making the remarkable reunion possible. The mountaineer was too ill to claim the belongings, so his son received them. This incident highlights the growing issue of glaciers melting due to climate change, revealing objects and sometimes human remains trapped beneath the ice for decades or even centuries.
Written by urgent.news from Gulf News's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
