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| Aoraki-Mount Cook, New Zealand |
It is really thought-proving thinking about all the
secrets the glaciers hold that are yet to be uncovered by humans. In a way, the
ice reveals to us humans what it wants us to find in its own good time. As
frustrating as this may be, we can only wait till a glacier melts (which is not
a great thing for our world and Polar bears) to uncover these secrets.
The body of a young climber killed more
than 40 years ago has been discovered at the foot of New Zealand's Tasman
Glacier. Police believe the well-preserved remains, discovered in late January,
belong to a South Island teenager who died in a slab avalanche near the top of
the glacier on September 16, 1973 (which happens to be my birthday). The body
of his older climbing companion was discovered soon after the accident, which
was triggered when the pair walked underneath ice cliffs that gave way.
The Police believe that, if indeed it is the younger boy,
he was buried in that avalanche and then his body has taken all this time to
come down the glacier and out into the open. They are however awaiting DNA
results to confirm the identity of the body.
The body was discovered near the old Malte Brun Hut by
two climbers, one of whom is Gavin Lang, an independent guide. He is said to
have first seen a piece of meshy material attached to an old peg, close to
which were a leather glove, long woolen socks and some tweet (probably from a
jacket or pants). Then there was the “body with leathery skin, and some boots
nearby).
He photographed and recorded the location co-ordinates
for police (here’s where knowledge of geography and photography come in). Once
home, a quick photo search revealed the boots and materials were similar to
those used by climbers in the early 1970s.
What make this story pretty interesting is the
realization he had been up there more than 40 years.
That's an incredible journey,
long and slow over all those decades, and then it shows up when the glacier
finally decided to reveal him. Bodies can be "quite preserved" after
being frozen under the ice and though often, these bodies were not recovered
complete, scraps of clothing and DNA could provide coroners with enough clues
to work from.
Andrew Hobman, an avalanche and alpine safety expert
with Mountain Safety Council, said people who perished in Aoraki Mt Cook
National Park commonly showed up at the foot of the glacier. There are
currently 62 bodies still missing in the Aoraki-Mt Cook National Park.
http://www.skynews.com.au/culture/offbeat/2015/03/02/glacier-reveals-climber-s-body-42-years-on.html
Well hopefully we will not be getting killed by slab avalanches while in Tasmania. And imagine...you were eating cake and they we're drowning in snow...how morbid!
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