The man had the intention to leave from Chamonix in France and to walk through the Valais Alps to the northern Italian city of Domodossola. But he never got there. A search turned up nothing at the time.
Two French mountaineers discovered the skeleton on July 26. A week later, a second skeleton was found in the Chessjen Glacier, also in the canton of Valais. As the glaciers melt, the remains of people who have been missing for decades are increasingly turning up.