Two hikers found Ötzi in 1991, a survey put him 92 metres inside Italy, and the finders fought South Tyrol in court until 2010 over the reward

On 19 September 1991 Erika and Helmut Simon, hikers from Nuremberg, saw a body in melting ice at 3,210 metres. Both Austrian police and Italian carabinieri were called, since the spot lay on the border, and the death was taken for a climbing accident. On 23 September the body was cut free, flown to Vent in Austria and taken to the forensic institute in Innsbruck; no archaeologist was present. The next day archaeologist Konrad Spindler said it was at least 4,000 years old. On 2 October an official survey placed the body 92.56 metres inside South Tyrol, Italy. The border had been drawn wrongly in heavy snow in 1922, but the line is legally valid. Ötzi stayed in Innsbruck for study and has been shown in Bolzano since 1998. The museum describes him as murdered. The Simons asked to be recognised as the finders. Under Italian law a finder is owed 25 percent of a find's value. A Bolzano court ruled in 2003 that the Simons were the finders, and the province appealed. Helmut Simon died in a mountain accident in 2004. South Tyrol first offered 50,000 euros. The Simons' filings estimated that Bolzano's hotels, restaurants and shops earn nearly $5.5 million a year from Ötzi's visitors. In 2010, with the case headed for Italy's Court of Cassation, the province agreed to pay Erika Simon 175,000 euros plus about 48,000 euros in costs.