Rescuers locate body of missing American hiker who vanished in the Pyrenees

Cole Henderson, pictured, went missing during a hike in the Pyrenees in July. (Hiking Trails in Spain/Facebook via CNN Newsource)

Spanish search and rescue teams have found the body of an American hiker who went missing in the Pyrenees last month.

The body of Cole Henderson, 27, was located on the north face of Monte Perdido, the third-highest peak in the Pyrenees, Spain’s Guardia Civil confirmed to CNN in an emailed statement on Tuesday.

Authorities said the place where Henderson was found on Friday afternoon was a difficult area to access, with the specialist teams using a crane to airlift his body.

On July 9, Henderson told friends he was going to hike into the Ordesa y Monte Perdido National Park in the province of Huesca. One of his last communications was a text to a friend saying he’d parked up and was putting his phone on airplane mode before starting his trek.

He was reported missing and a search began on July 14 after failing to take his flight home to the Netherlands two days prior.

Specialist mountain rescue teams and helicopters from the Air Service were deployed to assist in the search, the Guardia Civil previously told CNN.

Authorities had been working on the theory that Henderson may have tried to climb Monte Perdido, which stands at 3,355 metres (11,007 feet) high.

The route is rated as “Peu Difficile” (PD), meaning “somewhat difficult” by the climbing community. While PD routes are often climbed without ropes, they might involve steep sections of climbing, or crevassed glaciers, and frequently require specialized equipment, such as ice axes or crampons.

The typical route from the town of Torla, where Henderson’s car was located, was still covered in snow in early July, according to footage posted on social media.

By Lauren Kent, Lauren Said-Moorhouse, CNN