FORCLE GLACIER, Switzerland - At around 8,000 feet above sea level, Switzerland's Forcle Glacier has for thousands of years been deeply ensconced in a frigid mountain valley overlooked by some of Europe's highest peaks.
To early human hunters who climbed these heights, it must have seemed as if its snow-covered body of ice would forever keep the valley locked in its frozen grip. Whatever was lost on these rocks - iron spears, leather shoes or rudimentary straps - was swallowed by the ice, never to reappear.
