Melting Swiss Glacier Reveals Remains of Two Hikers Missing Since 1992 After Decades

The bodies of two Belgian mountaineers who disappeared in the Swiss Alps in 1992 were discovered after being exposed by glacial melt, Swiss authorities confirmed.

A hiker found the remains on July 26 on the Trift Glacier, located south of Lucerne, officials reported.

DNA testing later identified the deceased as the two climbers who had gone missing 34 years ago near the Weissmies peak, according to police. At the time of their disappearance, they were 39 and 41 years old.

Scientists frequently link the accelerated retreat of Switzerland’s glaciers—shrinking by 25% in the ten years leading up to 2025, per Glacier Monitoring in Switzerland (GLAMOS)—to climate change.

Valais regional police organized a recovery mission following the discovery and transported the bodies to a hospital in Sion, the cantonal capital, for formal identification.

Weissmies, rising over 4,000 meters, is a renowned mountaineering destination in the Saas Valley, near where the two men vanished.

Local authorities maintain a registry of missing persons dating to 1925, with most individuals having disappeared in mountainous terrain or aquatic environments, police noted.

Authorities emphasized that glacial melting uncovering long-lost remains is not an isolated incident.

In 2023, human remains discovered near the Matterhorn were confirmed through DNA analysis to belong to a German mountaineer who had been missing since 1986.

Data from GLAMOS revealed an additional 3% reduction in glacier volume during 2025, compounding record ice loss from 2022 and 2023, as reported by the European Commission’s Copernicus program.

Switzerland has experienced pronounced glacial retreat, intensifying since the 1990s and accelerating after 2000, driven by rising global temperatures and unseasonably warm conditions at higher elevations.

This warming trend has also reduced snow cover, threatening winter sports infrastructure, including ski resorts and competitive events throughout the country.

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