As the massive ice walls of the Alps collapsed, secrets trapped in cold darkness for 34 years have finally emerged into the world. On August 19, the Valais cantonal police in Switzerland officially announced that human remains found on the Trift Glacier had been identified as Marcel Bastyns and Jos van Den, two Belgian mountaineers who went missing in September 1990.

At the time, the two men, aged 39 and 41, set out to climb the 4,017-meter Weissmies peak but went missing following a sudden deterioration in weather conditions. Despite an extensive search back then, they vanished without a trace, leaving behind only a single backpack. They were finally found this past July by a hiker, allowing them to return to their families at last.

Behind their tragic return lies a bitter reality facing humanity. It was a record-breaking heatwave sweeping across Europe that melted the thick ice holding them. According to GLAMOS, the Swiss Glacier Monitoring Network, the snow and ice that had accumulated in the Alps last winter had already completely melted by June 29—two months earlier than in a typical year. The nearby Rhone Glacier lost a staggering 4 meters of ice thickness in just one month during mid-summer.

As climate change causes glaciers to retreat rapidly, the Alps are spitting out past tragedies like a massive time capsule. While it is fortunate that those who vanished are returning to their families, the glaciers melting at an alarming rate of several meters each year have become the most intuitive and chilling warning sign of the accelerating pace of global warming.

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