In June 1937, explorers Bradford Washburn and Robert Bates embarked on a mission to climb Mount Lucania, the last unclimbed peak in North America at the time.
Due to bad weather conditions, they became stranded on the Walsh Glacier and had to make the entire ascent and descent on foot, covering over 150 miles through the wilderness.
To lighten their load, they were forced to leave their belongings, including a 900-pound cache of gear containing tents, mountaineering equipment, and three cameras.
During a Teton Gravity Research expedition led by Griffin Post, the long-lost treasure of Washburn and Robert Bates was finally found.
This included the cameras and film that the explorers had left behind.
The remarkable discovery took place just a few hours before the team was scheduled to depart and return home.
The team led by Griffin Post undertook 18 months of preparation, examining old documents, while Dr. Luke Copland's team used glacial mapping to estimate the possible location of the lost cache on the moving glacier.
“It was so surreal, and a moment I definitely will remember for the rest of my life,” Post said this week.
“The validation I felt was the biggest thing. I’m not saying validation from people who doubted we’d find it — sure, there was a little of that — but validation about the self-doubt you had, that your gut was right and that this was a good idea, that this was possible.”
After traveling two kilometers (1.6 miles) beyond the initial target area during the final three hours of the search, one team member noticed a fuel canister nearly right away.
“The chance that we’d find such a small cache on such a huge glacier was small. Everyone had given up hope, so it was epic. There was a surprise, disbelief, and a huge relief – my guess was right, the pressure was off. We couldn’t be happier,” Post shared.
Brad Washburn, a prominent Alaskan explorer, mountaineer, and photographer, gained recognition for pioneering the standard route up Denali/Mount McKinley.
He also explored Alaska through aerial photography, capturing stunning images of the Alaskan mountain ranges from an open airplane doorway using a large-format camera.
Washburn's legacy extends beyond mountaineering, as he founded and directed the Boston Museum of Science.
Despite the movement of the glacier over 85 years, the lost cache was successfully located by the team.
While the items had spread out over "tens of meters," the majority of the cache was found intact, with only a few items carried away by meltwater over time.
Among the recovered items were three cameras. One was Washburn's Fairchild F-8 aerial camera, which had sustained damage. The other two cameras, a DeVry "Lunchbox" model and a Bell & Howell Eyemo 71A, used for motion pictures, were found in good condition.
The recovered DeVry "Lunchbox" model and Bell & Howell Eyemo 71A cameras still contained film, which has been handed over to the University of Ottawa for further examination.
The team hopes to recover any footage that may have survived over the 85 years on the glacier.
Despite the challenging odds, the team remains hopeful about the potential recovery of valuable footage.
