Nevada hiker details the moment he discovered the remains of missing climber William Stampfl on one of the world’s tallest mountains in Peru

A Nevada man has shared shocking details of a discovery he made while climbing one of the world’s tallest mountains in Peru, ending a 22-year mystery.

Ryan Cooper and his team were descending Huascaran Peak in the Andes after a failed summit attempt in June when they noticed an anomaly in the glacial landscape.

The melting of the ice revealed the mummified remains of missing climber William Stampfl, who was reported missing in June 2002 at the age of 59 after his climbing party was buried in an avalanche.

Stampflies body was frozen in a fetal position and his clothes, armor and boots were well preserved by the ice and freezing temperatures.

“As we got closer, the object started to take shape. We could see it was a climber,” Cooper said. KVVU“As we got closer we could see that the climber had been there for a while.”

William Stampfl (pictured) was reported missing in June 2002, at age 59, when an avalanche buried his climbing group

Cooper posted photos of dry tools on a wall the day they found Stampfl’s body

Stampfl’s California ID was found among his belongings, allowing Cooper to identify him and contact his loved ones.

The fanny pack containing his driver’s license also contained sunglasses, a camera, a voice recorder and two decomposing twenty-dollar bills.

“I could see right away that this climber had a wedding ring on. You could see his ring and it hit me. This man had a family, at least a wife, and they were expecting him home, but he never came home,” Cooper said.

“We saw that he was from Chino, California, he was an American. So my brother and I realized that we were the ones responsible for finding his family.”

Cooper contacted Stampf’s family to let them know he had found their father and had taken action to help them bring him home.

“Twenty-two years later you get a phone call. They had already accepted that he was going to be part of the mountain, and to get that phone call is quite a shock,” Cooper said.

Stampfl’s California ID was found among his belongings, allowing Cooper to identify him and contact his loved ones

Stampfl’s body was frozen in a fetal position and his clothes, armor and boots were well preserved by the ice and freezing temperatures

Cooper is working with Stampflin’s family to get his body off the mountain and bring his remains back to the United States

The mountains of northeastern Peru, with snow-capped peaks such as Huascaran and Cashan, are a favorite with climbers from all over the world

Stampf’s son Joseph was shocked when he heard that his father’s body had finally been found.

“That phone call first thing on a Saturday was pretty surreal. It took me a while to process it. At first I thought this wasn’t real,” he told DailyMail.com.

He immediately contacted his sister Jennifer before they all had a conversation with his stepmother, uncle and Cooper.

They then all worked on the logistics of recovering Stampfl’s body from the mountain and bringing it back to the US.

The family called in a rescue company, the Peruvian Mountain Rescue Association, to help retrieve their father’s remains from the mountain.

A group of police officers and mountain guides placed his body on a stretcher, covered it with an orange tarp and slowly carried it down the icy mountain.

He will be cremated and then his ashes will be returned to the U.S. His family is planning a special walk to scatter the ashes at one of his favorite spots, the top of Mount Baldy.

Stampfl (pictured is his wife Janet Stampfl-Raymer) will be cremated and his family plans to scatter his ashes at one of his favorite spots, the top of Mount Baldy

Stampfl (left) died along with his friends Matthew Richardson and Steve Erskine (right) while attempting to climb the 22,000-foot peak in 2002. Erskine’s body was found shortly after the avalanche, but Richardson’s remains missing.

Stampfl died along with his friends Matthew Richardson and Steve Erskine when they attempted to climb the 22,000-foot mountain in 2002.

Erskine’s body was found shortly after the avalanche, but Richardson’s is still missing.

The mountains of northeastern Peru, with snow-capped peaks such as Huascaran and Cashan, are a favorite with climbers from all over the world.

Hundreds of climbers visit the mountain every year with local guides. It takes about a week to reach the top.

More and more remains of missing hikers, skiers and climbers are being discovered as glaciers around the world continue to melt.