Hikers find body of climber who died 21 years ago

The body of a climber who went missing 21 years ago has been found on a glacier in Alberta. The body had been carried down the mountainside by melting snow and ice.

William Holland, who was from Maine, was climbing a frozen waterfall on a treacherous area of Mount Snowdome called slipstream when he fell. He and three others had reached the summit of the mountain. Visibility was poor, and Holland stepped onto a hard section of snow hanging over the edge of a cliff to search for a route down. The snow broke away and he disappeared over the side. Searchers spent a week looking for Holland, until the dangerous conditions stopped them. “This was a well-prepared mountainist, and he was by all means up to the task of the climb,” the Calgary Herald reported Steve Blake, a public safety specialist with Parks Canada, as saying. “He just made a judgment error getting to the edge.” Two hikers discovered Holland’s body on Dome Glacier beneath Mount Snowdome. Because it was buried under ice and snow the body was very well preserved. It was found with full climbing gear, spiked boots and a rope over his shoulder. CBC News reported that Parks Canada rescue specialist Garth Lemke said: "By the time we got there the body was fully exposed. We didn't have to chip the body out at all. 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."