FOUND: AFTER 21 YEARS

 

Banff National Park in Canada Photo: ALAMY

After missing for 21 years, the body of an American mountain climber has been discovered in Canada’s Rocky Mountains.

William Holland, an American from the US state of Maine, disappeared in 1989 while hiking in Banff National Park. His body was recently discovered by two hikers.

Holland’s body and mountaineering equipment were reportedly preserved by the freezing conditions at the site and when the ice melted there this summer, his corpse was revealed.

 

Holland, who was 38 when he disappeared, was climbing Snow Down mountain when he fell some 300 meters. His climbing partners quickly alerted emergency services, but the search was called off the following day because of an avalanche. The route he was climbing is known as a dangerous path and a number of people have died near the same spot.


“By the time we got there the body was fully exposed. We didn’t have to chip the body out at all,” Parks Canada rescue specialist Garth Lemke told CBC news. “He was generally skin and bones, having quite a mummified look to him. His clothes and gear were relatively intact, and if you look at where he was, he was basically in a deep freeze for the last 21 years.”