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Remains of Climber Found 36 Years Later

Few details, such as the climber's name or what route they were on, have been released

Photo by: Valais officials of the missing climber's gear

A German climber who went missing in the Swiss Alps in the 1980s has been found, Valais officials said on Thursday. The climber’s name has not been released.

Earlier this month, climbers found several pieces of equipment and human remains on the Theodule Glacier in Switzerland. Officials said, “DNA comparisons allowed to establish that this was an alpinist who had disappeared in September 1986.”

Hundreds of people have gone missing in the Alps over the past 100 years, and many have recently been found due to melting glaciers. In 2022, Switzerland’s glaciers lost a over five per cent of their volume.

In 2010, William Holland’s body was recovered below Snowdome on the Icefields Parkway in the Canadian Rockies. He’d gone missing in winter 1989 after falling through a cornice above Slipstream, a 900-metre WI4. Read more about it here.

 

 

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Lead photo: Valais officials of the missing climber's gear