Mummified body of climber William Stampfl found entombed in ice 22 YEARS after he was swept away by avalanche in Peru

A MUMMIFIED body of a climber who vanished 22 years ago has been discovered entombed in ice.

William Stampfl was swept away by an avalanche in June 2002 on the side of the Huascaran mountain in Peru.

A frantic search for the missing climber at the time proved fruitless and his body was buried under the snowy peak for two decades.

His body was eventually revealed by ice melting on the Andean Cordillera Blanca range.

The 59-year-old's frozen remains, which were well-preserved by the cold, still had his clothes, harness and boots on.

Alongside his body, police found his possessions, including an American passport, which allowed them to identify the corpse.

Stampfl embarked on a 19-day trip from California to Peru's tallest summit with two others, Steve Erskine and Matthew Richardson.

But the rumbling avalanche on June 24, 2002 disrupted their climb, sweeping away the mountaineers into a death trap.

Only Erskine's body had previously been retrieved.

Mount Huarascan - Peru's highest peak - stands at a whopping 22,000 feet and is located 270 miles north of the capital Lima.

Climbers from all over the world are drawn to the Cordillera Blanca mountain range in northeastern Peru because of its snow-capped summits and breathtaking ascents.

Earlier this year, an Italian mountaineer's body was found after he disappeared while scaling another peak in the region.

Meanwhile, an Israeli man went missing in April with his body finally uncovered a month later.

In February, four skiers were killed after getting caught in an avalance in France.

Cops have launched a criminal probe after a group of nine people were buried by a huge snowslide in an area known as Val d'Enfer - Hell Valley.

Two of the skiers, who were not injured, managed to raise the alarm - sparking a search and rescue operation.

Three of the group were found hurt under 13ft of snow after activating their avalanche locator beacons.

But the remaining four were later found dead by rescue crews.

A monstrous avalanche in Swiss mountains claimed the life of a US teen and two adults in April.

The huge snowslide by the Swiss Alpine ski resort of Zermatt on Easter Monday saw three people killed and another injured, police said.