PERU ANDES: More than two decades ago, a man named Bill Stampfl was killed in an avalanche while attempting to scale Huascaran, one of the highest peaks in the Peruvian Andes. The body of the American climber was lost for 22 years, but in June 2024 his son Joseph received a phone call that gave up hope. A stranger found the remains of Bill Stampfl.
“It was so out of left field. We talk about my dad, we think about him all the time,” Joseph told the Associated Press. “You never think you’re going to get that call.
It was mostly in one piece and completely frozen, and has now been found by Peruvian officials. Unfortunately, Stampfl was not the only one who perished in that avalanche – it was also two of his climbing partners. Matthew Richardson and Steve Erskine climbed frequently with Stampfl and together they summited Kilimanjaro, Rainier, Shasta and Denali in the years before their deaths. While Erskine’s body was found in the days after the avalanche, Richardson’s has yet to be found.
Huascaran is a 22,000 foot peak. Stampfl’s body was found at 17,060 feet, still nearly 10 hours from the camp where climbers stop to rest before attempting the summit. When officials found him, the body was carefully carried out on a stretcher covered with an orange sheet.
According to Stampfl’s daughter, Jennifer, the family plans to take his body to a funeral home in Lima, Peru, where it can be cremated before his ashes are sent home to America.
“For 22 years, we just sort of realized that ‘this is the way it is,’” she said.
Peruvian police were able to positively identify Stampfl by his driver’s license, which was found in a pouch on his hip. The bag also contained sunglasses, a camera, a voice recorder and $40.
“He was a kind man. He was modest. He loved God and he loved the mountains,” she said. “We all loved my husband dearly. He was one of a kind
