In 1963, 23-year-old hiker threw his backpack into an Austrian glacier crevasse to survive; 63 years later, melting ice returned his lost belongings

In 1963, a young hiker threw his backpack into a deep crevasse in Austria’s Tyrol region to save himself during a terrifying mountaineering accident. More than six decades later, melting glacial ice has returned the lost backpack, camera, ice axe and pipe to the now 86-year-old man’s family.

On August 4, 1963, the man was taking part in a high-altitude hike with friends around the Sulztalferner glacier in Tyrol. During the crossing, he suddenly fell into a crevasse.

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Because the group was roped together, his friends were able to keep him from falling further and eventually pull him out using prusik loops. But there was one thing making the rescue more difficult, his backpack. To make himself lighter, he removed it and threw it into the crevasse. He likely never expected to see it again.

Glacier preserved the backpack for 63 years

The backpack remained buried in glacial ice for more than 60 years. That changed last month when another hiker discovered a collection of objects on the Sulztalferner glacier, roughly 9,700 feet above sea level.

Among the items were the old backpack, an ice axe, a camera and a pipe, all believed to date from the 1950s or 1960s. The discovery led Austrian authorities to launch an investigation to identify their owner.

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“A barely legible name was eventually found in the badly weathered document folder. Further research led to the identification of the former owner. The now 86-year-old confirmed that the equipment was indeed his,” Tyrol state police said.

86-year-old reunites with belongings

The man was unable to travel to collect the items himself for health reasons. On August 25, a mountain police officer handed the recovered belongings to his son.

For the family, the return carried an emotional meaning that went far beyond the objects themselves. The son told officers that the story of the backpack had always been significant to the family. If his father had not survived that 1963 accident, his descendants would not have been there decades later to receive his belongings.

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Melting glaciers are revealing forgotten history

The discovery also highlights how retreating glaciers are exposing objects that have remained frozen for decades or even centuries. Across the Alps, melting ice has revealed coins, weapons, diaries, lanterns, canned food, bottles, clothing and other historic artifacts.

Some discoveries have been linked to the First World War, when Italian and Austro-Hungarian troops fought at extreme altitudes during the White War between 1915 and 1918.

In northern Italy, melting ice eventually exposed military barracks built inside a cave on Mount Scorluzzo near the Stelvio Pass. The site contained the remains of soldiers and objects they had used during the mountain campaign.

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From a 1963 backpack to Ötzi

The Alps have also produced one of the world's most famous archaeological discoveries. In 1991, two German hikers found the naturally preserved remains of a man near the Italian-Austrian border. Known as Ötzi the Iceman, he lived more than 5,000 years ago.

His remains are now displayed at the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology. The return of one man's backpack after 63 years is a much more recent story, but it shows how melting Alpine ice can unexpectedly bring long-forgotten pieces of the past back into the present.