They took backpacks, a book and mess kits to go milk the cows?
This excerpt sounds like a couple of hikers who got unlucky. The CNN story raises more questions.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/19/europe/swiss-alps-couple-frozen-75-years/index.html
I wouldn’t consider an “excursion” at 2,615 meters as “milking cows” either.
The article says the husband was a shoemaker and the wife a teacher. The “milking cows” bit sounds like made-up fake news because writers and editors just assume what stereotypes and add fake news to their stories.
“Udry-Dumoulin continued: ‘It was the first time my mother went with him on such an excursion. She was always pregnant and couldn’t climb in the difficult conditions of the glacier.”
It's the most wonderful milk in the world. The cows eat the alpine flowers along with grass, and the flowers give wonderful aromas and taste to the milk. That's what makes Swiss cheeses and chocolates so distinctive. Butter and cheese in Switzerland has labels saying the product was made from Swiss milk.