Mummified body found in Andes confirmed as woman who died climbing 41 years ago
The climber died at an altitude of over 5,000 metres in the Andes in March 1981.
The body of a woman who went missing 41 years ago was found mummified on an Andes mountain.
Marta Emilia Altamirano, better known as Patty, died during an expedition in the Andes in March 1981.
Since then, at least four expeditions have taken place to find her but none of them was successful.
But a body was discovered stuck to a glacier on the highest peak of the Cordillera de la Ramada range and the eighth-highest mountain in the Andes on January 28.
At first, all that could be determined was that the body belonged to a woman aged between 18 and 30 years but it has now emerged that it was Patty.
According to a news report at the time, Patty left for the climb with her sister Corina and experienced climber Sergio Bossini on March 23 in 1981.
They started ascending the summit four days later and stopped to set up camp at an altitude of over 5,000 metres at around 7pm.
Patty went off to survey the surrounding area alone, lost her footing and slid hundreds of metres down an icy slope.
Corina and Sergio searched for her throughout the night but to no avail.
They found her the following morning but Patty had already passed away.
The weather conditions and difficult terrain made it impossible for the pair to take the body with them so they left to ask for help.
They reported the tragedy at the nearest gendarmerie post on March 29 but, by the time the authorities assembled a search team, the snow and ice has buried Patty’s body.
After the body was retrieved last month, her four siblings travelled to confirm that they recognised the victim’s clothes and belongings as Patty’s.
Days later, DNA results also confirmed that the mummified body was the young woman.
Patty’s sister Corina Altamirano said: ‘The four of us were able to find out it’s her.
‘It’s a wonderful feeling to be able to know this with certainty. We now feel a kind of deep peace.’
The family said Patty’s remains will be taken to Tucumán so other relatives can say goodbye before cremating her.
They then plan to sprinkle Patty’s ashes on the mountain she died on as ‘that was her wish’.
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