On Friday 28 October, a Dutchman named Ömer Sami went to the Mont-Blanc massif to spend a night in the Leschaux Hut, but as he was about to leave the Glacier de Leschaux, to start the ascent to the high altitude hut, he discovered in a moraine an old lost credit card.
Ömer explained by telephone to Le Dauphiné: "I didn't think that the credit card had a particular story. I first said to myself that its owner must have simply dropped it years ago”.
Intrigued, however, Ömer Sami had the idea of sharing a photo of this card expired since June 1997 on a Chamonix Facebook group. Immediately, some mountaineers commented on his post, after realizing that this credit card belonged to the young Belgian mountaineer Jurgen Andries, who died in the mountains on 28 July 1995 while attempting the ascent of the mythical north face of the Grandes Jorasses (4.208m), a summit which precisely dominates the Leschaux glacier.
It seems that the young member of the Belgian Alpine Club, at that time aged 21 years old, lost his credit card during this tragic day on one of the most beautiful walls of the Alps.
Le Dauphine has found in its archives, an old article written about this tragic event. In that black day of 28 July, Alec Bronytz (24) and Guido Cardoen (44), two other experienced mountaineers also lost their lives at Les Jorasses.
Found in the moraine, the credit card was exhumed by the melting of the glacier
"This card is the remnant of a tragic day and proof of global warming", commented two days after his discovery Ömer Sami, who promises to return the blue card if someone close to the victim makes contact with him.
He also noted that the plastic of this credit card come out intact after the ice has melted.
Source: @Le Dauphine
