image copyrightSWISS POLICE/CANTON VALAIS
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Red lace-ups and climbing tools found with human remains on the Theodul Glacier
2 hours ago
It was confirmed that human remains were found on a glacier near the famous Matterhorn mountain peak in Switzerland, belonging to a German climber who has been missing since 1986.
This comes in a long series of revelations about secrets that have been hidden for decades in the Alpine glaciers, which are melting at a rapid rate due to climate change.
And earlier this month, climbers found this human remains while crossing the Theodol glacier in southern Switzerland, on the border with Italy.
These climbers noticed climbing shoes and tools after the snow had receded.
DNA analysis showed that these remains belong to a German climber who disappeared 37 years ago, after a massive search and rescue operation failed to find him.
Police did not reveal the climber’s name, but he was 38 when he went missing while hiking.
Like other Alpine glaciers, Theodul has seen a significant retreat in the past few years.
The Theodul Glacier is located in the ski village of Zermatt, which is the highest peak in Europe.
Alpine ice regions are particularly sensitive to global climate change.
In the 1980s, when the trace of the German climber was lost, the Theodul River was still connected to the Görner Glacier in its vicinity, before they recently separated.
Over recent years, hardly a summer has passed without a thaw revealing something or someone that has been missing for decades.
Last year, melting ice revealed the wreckage of a plane that had crashed in 1968 in the Aletsch Glacier.
And in 2014, the remains of missing British climber Jonathan Conville were found when a helicopter pilot noticed something unusual while delivering supplies to a mountain shelter atop the famous Swiss Matterhorn.
Climber Conville was lost in 1979, and the Conville family remained in the dark for decades until news of his remains found in an environment he had long loved was announced, which the family described as “bittersweet” news.
In 2015, the remains of two Japanese climbers were found on the edge of the Matterhorn mountain peak. The trail of these two climbers was lost after a blizzard took them by surprise in 1970.
border transmission
Last year, a thaw moved the border between Switzerland and Italy. And the mark of the boundary between the two countries in the past was the division of the water stream resulting from the melting of the ice existing between them into two streams, each in a country.
With the decline in the ice level, the position of this division changed, and thus the boundary between the two countries. This, in turn, led to the transfer of dependency of some regions from Switzerland to Italy and vice versa. This includes the transfer of the famous ski resort of Cervinia from the geographical dependence of Italy to Switzerland.
However, diplomatic disagreements over border points are not the biggest consequences of the thaw. Alpine glaciers represent an integral part of Europe’s environment: the snow that forms in winter in those rivers flows in summer into European streams such as the Rhine and Danube.
Exactly a year ago, experts expressed their shock that the snow levels in Swiss glaciers were falling at a rate that exceeded expectations.
And if things continue at this rate, all the glaciers in the Alps are on their way to disappearing by the end of the century.
It is worth noting that this summer, Switzerland recorded the highest temperature ever seen in the country.
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2023-07-28 19:56:31
