Swiss authorities confirmed the discovery of human remains on a glacier in the Ober Gabelhorn region, solving the disappearance of a mountaineer who went missing nearly three decades ago.
According to CBS News, climbers ascending the 13,330-foot peak reported the remains on October 15, prompting cantonal police in the southern Wallis region to reach the site by helicopter.
Officers collected the body and personal effects from the Ober Gabelhorn glacier.
The deceased was identified as a Swiss citizen born in 1969, police said. Two climbers vanished in the area on November 4, 1994. One of them was found in 2000, while the newly recovered remains resolve the mystery surrounding the second individual’s disappearance.
The Ober Gabelhorn is a highly coveted ascent among experienced mountaineers, attracting climbers seeking both challenge and prestige.
Experts say the increasing rate of glacier melt due to human-driven climate change has led to a rise in discoveries of long-missing hikers, climbers, and skiers worldwide. As glaciers recede, previously hidden bodies are emerging from the ice.
In recent years, similar discoveries have drawn global attention. In August, the remains of a British researcher missing since 1959 were found on King George Island, Antarctica. Around the same time, a missing man’s body emerged from a glacier in Pakistan, 28 years after his disappearance.
Other notable recoveries include a U.S. mountaineer found in Peru in July 2024, 22 years after vanishing, and five frozen bodies recovered from Mount Everest in June 2024 as part of Nepal’s cleanup campaign on Everest and nearby peaks Lhotse and Nuptse.
Switzerland itself has seen several such recoveries. In 2023, the body of a German climber missing since 1986 was retrieved from a Swiss glacier. In 2017, a glacier revealed the remains of a British mountaineer who disappeared in 1971, as well as a couple missing since 1942.
Authorities say that with glaciers continuing to shrink at unprecedented rates, more long-lost climbers may be discovered in the coming years.
