By WAYNE THOMPSON
Police investigating a grisly discovery in the Hooker Glacier believe they have found the remains of two Swiss climbers who went missing on Mt Cook in 1963.
Senior Constable Ian Napier, of Lake Tekapo, said a climber reported finding human remains and climbing gear last week at the end
of the Hooker Glacier, which flows from the western slopes of the mountain.
Senior Constable Napier, a fellow officer and Department of Conservation staff went to recover the body on Tuesday.
As well as human bones, they found a wallet belonging to August Manser, who went missing on the mountain with fellow Swiss national Edwin Kunz on December 28, 1963.
"We saw a golden wedding ring down a crevasse. We struggled but we could not reach it," said Senior Constable Napier.
Mr Manser's wallet contained 1960s New Zealand currency of pound notes, florins, pennies and halfpennies.
Police also found a piece of climbing rope, climbing tools, pieces of corduroy trousers, a green jersey, and a nylon jacket.
Mr Kunz was married and the policeman wanted to return it to Mr Kunz's family.
After the tragedy, Mr Kunz's wife, Elizabeth, left their home in Christchurch to return to Switzerland.
She is believed to have remarried.
Police have sought the help of the Swiss Embassy in Wellington to contact relatives of the men in Switzerland.
An embassy official said last night she was waiting for a reply from Switzerland.
Senior Constable Napier said the climber whose report prompted the recovery mission has said he saw a different set of remains.
Police hoped to return to the glacier next week to recover those.
Senior Constable Napier said he could not speculate on whose remains they were.
Mr Kunz and Mr Manser were last seen on the east ridge of the mountain on December 28, 1963. A 10-day search was abandoned after bitterly cold weather and heavy snowfalls.
Senior Constable Napier said the unrecovered remains could be those of any one of a number of people who were lost on Mt Cook during the 1960s.
He said records begun in 1930 listed 97 climbers unaccounted for on Mt Cook.
Climbers fell down the mountain slopes into glacier crevasses.
It was not unusual for the slow-moving glacier to eventually surrenders bodies, even though it could take decades, as in this case.
