In the Swiss Alps found the body of a climber who disappeared 37 years ago (3 photos)

The body of a climber who disappeared in 1986 in the Swiss Alps found near the Matterhorn. Searches for fresh tracks did not give result, and after almost four decades, the remains were exposed due to strong ice melt. The ice in the mountains is melting at a record speed, threatening flood.





The terrible discovery was made by climbers crossing the glacier Theodule. They noticed a hiking boot sticking out of the ice and crampons.

DNA analysis confirmed that it was the remains of a 38-year-old tourist from Germany (his name was not released by the local police), who disappeared without lead in September 1986 near the Matterhorn, the most famous peaks of Switzerland. Extensive searches at the time could not find him. traces.



Melting alpine glaciers are increasingly revealing their long-standing secrets, exposing the slopes of the mountains.

So, in 2015, on the same mountain Matterhorn were found the remains of two young Japanese climbers who disappeared during a snowy storms in 1970. Their identities were confirmed through DNA analysis of their relatives.

In 2014, a helicopter pilot discovered the body of a missing person. lead the British climber Jonathan Conville, who did not return from Matterhorn in 1979.

Parts of a Piper Cherokee that crashed in 1968 were found on the Aletsch Glacier last year.

Two groups of human remains were also found: on Cheszhen glacier (dating back to the 1970s or 1980s) and on the glacier Stokci (dating back to the 1980s).



Switzerland has 1,400 glaciers, which is about half all glaciers in the European Alps. Swiss glaciers last year experienced a record melt, losing more than 6 percent of their volume. This caused the alarm of specialists from the Swiss Academy of Sciences - they stated that a 2 percent volume loss was once considered extreme.

Alpine glaciers irrigate crops, and melt water from them cools rivers, which is vital for biodiversity, including fish. Glaciers also collect individual masses of water into "ice dams that threaten to flood.

A separate study showed that the glaciers of Switzerland have lost more than half of their total volume since the early 1930s - much faster than scientists predicted. At such a pace, experts, almost all alpine glaciers will disappear by the end of this century.