Body of French climber missing for 32 years found on Mont Blanc

PARIS – The body of a French climber who disappeared into a snowstorm in 1982 has been discovered on the slopes of Mont Blanc.

Patrice Hyvert was a 23-year-old aspiring guide when he went for a solo ascent on March 1, 1982. Upon learning of the snowstorm, his father called for a rescue team but searchers were blocked by weather.

Capt. Patrice Ribes of the Chamonix rescue service said Thursday that climbers found Hyvert’s body on July 3, his identification papers intact.

Hyvert’s father said he wished the body had remained missing.

“My hope was to die before he was found, because he was in his place. He loved the mountain so much,” Gerard Hyvert told RTL radio.

Ribes said 160 people remain missing on Mont Blanc, Western Europe’s highest peak.