WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH) - It’s a story that, likely for many, is hard to believe. Nearly 30 ago, a Wichita man lost a ring from his Kansas State University fraternity in the snow-packed Austrian Alps. Chris Steincamp thought the ring was gone forever. Then, the unexpected happened, decades later.

The story began in the summer of 1993 with two new law school graduates in the Austrian Alps.

“My friend, Roger McClellan and I were out there climbing through the Alps, not particularly well-equipped, with jeans and tennis shoes,” Steincamp said.

Steincamp said he fell through the snow and caught himself, but needed assistance getting up.

“And by the time I got pulled out of the snow, the cold and everything else, my ring had come off,” he said. “I told the guy that was running the mountain climbing cabin that we were staying in, ‘hey, I lost my ring out there,’ and then I kind o described it to him. Said, ‘hey, if you ever find it, I would love to have it back.’”

That was June 1993. Fast forward 29 years.

‘About a year ago, one of my (law) partners was at a business meeting with [McClellan]. And [McClellan] had said, ‘hey, tell Chris that they found his ring in Austria. And then he came back and told me and I was like, ‘oh, yeah right, sure they did,’” Steincamp said.

They weren’t lying. Steincamp said a hiker found his ring and somehow brought it back to the same mountain climbing cabin he’s stayed at nearly three decades ago.

“I was like, ‘holy cow.’” So, you know, following that, it was kind of a process of trying to get it back here from Austria, which wasn’t as easy as it sounds in the middle of COVID and everything else,” Steincamp said. “And the Austrians wouldn’t ship it regular.”

So, Steincamp reached out to friends who were able to arrange to have a shipping company go to Austria and pick up the ring and bring it back. Steincamp said the ring is from when he was initiated into a K-State fraternity in 1985.

“And I wore it pretty much every day until I lost it in Austria,” he said.

With the special item back in his possession, Steincamp said he’d someday like to make a trip to Austria to thank those who helped to find his ring.

“It is a great story and I’m happy to have my ring back,” he said.

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