Ola's Lost Backpack Found After Four Years with Surprising Contents

Ola's backpack vanished during a mountain hike and was only found after four years. Not only was the gear returned, but it also held a few surprises.

Ola Rolid Tørrisplass, 46, packed heavily for a climb up a 2,300-meter peak in Norway's Jotunheimen four years ago.

When the terrain became too steep, he switched to a smaller daypack and hid the larger one, intending to retrieve it on the way down.

But it seemed to vanish into nature. Ola searched for over three hours but gave up as darkness and cold set in.

"It was completely gone," Ola told NRK.

Recently, hikers stumbled upon a partially overgrown backpack. Unable to carry it down, they took a photo and shared the coordinates in a large hiking group on Facebook.

"Bingo," thought Ola when he saw the picture, and he headed back up the mountain—and there it was.

"I had almost given up hope," he told NRK.

"The equipment can be replaced, but I want to clean up my trash."

Discoveries in the Backpack

The tent, sleeping bag, and sleeping pad were in surprisingly good condition, and a down jacket in a waterproof bag was almost like new.

"I'm both surprised and impressed. It's incredible," Ola said, describing the area as "wild terrain with lots of loose material."

"Imagine no one has been there for four years. It says something about the area, that no one has walked there in the meantime."

However, that's not entirely true.

Someone had found the coordinates before Ola: a mouse that had moved into a crumpled wool sweater. However, the mouse—and other animals—left a package of sausages untouched.

But the best surprise was probably what lay waiting in the backpack's "lid":

Two unopened beer cans.

And as the saying goes, good things come to those who wait.

"They survived surprisingly well. And they actually tasted good too," Ola told NRK.