Alfred Rothfischer is reunited with climbing equipment lost in an Austrian glacier crevasse over 60 years ago.

An 86-year-old Austrian mountaineer, Alfred Rothfischer, was reunited with his climbing equipment after it emerged from a melting glacier in Austria’s Tyrol region. The backpack, which contained an ice axe, camera, whistle, and pipe, was discovered by a hiker on the Sulztalferner glacier at an elevation of nearly 9,800 feet. Rothfischer lost the gear during a climbing trip in August 1963. While crossing the glacier with a rope team, he fell into a crevasse and discarded his heavy backpack to lighten his load and steady his feet. His companions pulled him to safety, while the bag remained trapped in the ice for 63 years. Austrian police identified Rothfischer through weathered documents found inside the bag. Due to his current ill health, the equipment was returned to his son on August 25. The discovery highlights the accelerating retreat of European glaciers caused by global heating, which has revealed various relics, ancient ecosystems, and human remains in recent decades.

Sources

• Newser
  He Fell Into a Crevasse in 1963. He Just Got His Stuff Back
• CNN
  Man, 86, reunited with backpack 60 years after abandoning it during hiking accident
• The Guardian
  Hiker reunited with backpack 60 years after he fell into a glacier in Austria
• Outside Magazine
  Melting Alpine Ice Reveals a 63-Year-Old Mountaineering Time Capsule
• The Economic Times
  In 1963, 23-year-old hiker threw his backpack into an Austrian glacier crevasse to survive; 63 years later