Remains of Climber Missing Since 1994 Found on Swiss Glacier, Solving Decades‑Old Mystery

On Oct. 15, mountaineers ascending the Ober Gabelhorn discovered human remains on the mountain's glacier, the cantonal police of Valais said. Officers were flown to the site by helicopter to recover the body and personal effects from the Ober Gabelhorn glacier.

Police said the deceased was a Swiss citizen born in 1969. Two climbers went missing in the area on Nov. 4, 1994; one of the pair was found in 2000, and this recent recovery accounts for the second missing mountaineer, resolving a decades‑old disappearance.

The Ober Gabelhorn rises to about 4,060 meters (13,330 feet) and is a prized, challenging ascent for experienced alpinists.

Bodies increasingly revealed as glaciers melt

Scientists link rising global temperatures from human‑driven climate change to accelerating glacier retreat. As ice recedes worldwide, glaciers are exposing the remains of hikers, skiers and climbers who vanished decades ago.

• In August, the remains of a British researcher who disappeared in 1959 in Antarctica were found near a receding glacier on King George Island.
• A man's body was recovered from a melting glacier in Pakistan nearly three decades after he went missing.
• In July 2024, the preserved body of an American mountaineer was located in Peru 22 years after he disappeared; earlier that summer Nepalese teams recovered five bodies during an Everest‑area clean‑up operation, including one reduced to skeletal remains.
• Recent years have also seen discoveries in the Alps, including a German climber missing since 1986 and other cases dating back to the mid‑20th century.

Authorities have not released the recovered climber's identity beyond nationality and birth year while next of kin are notified. The find highlights both long‑standing risks for alpine mountaineers and the broader consequences of warming temperatures for mountain regions.