Ban the ‘thrill-seekers and buffoons’ who are ruining Mont Blanc, mayor pleads
ITS ascent is a rite of passage for mountaineers, but Mont Blanc has become so overcrowded that a French mayor is calling for a ban on “ill-prepared thrill-seekers” as deaths rise.
Western Europe’s highest peak attracts up to 400 climbers each day in summer, but most are novices, according to Jean-Marc Peillex, the local mayor.
Some attempt the ascent without proper equipment, as if it were barely more challenging than a country walk, he said. But a section of the popular “Royal Route” to the summit, along the Goûter ridge, is so dangerous that it is nicknamed the “corridor of death”.
Fifteen climbers have died this summer, with the recent heatwave increasing the risk of avalanches and rockfalls as glaciers melt. Fifteen people were killed last year, a big jump from 2016, when nine people died trying to scale the “White Mountain” on the French-Italian border.
The mayor, whose Saint-Gervais commune includes Mont Blanc’s 15,780ft peak, told The Sunday Tele
graph that temporary restrictions imposed on climbers this summer are not enough.
The authorities turned away climbers without booked accommodation at the Goûter refuge. Mr Peillex wants compulsory climbing licences and fines for people without proper equipment to limit “the summer influx of ill-prepared thrill seekers and dangerous buffoons”.
A man wearing trainers instead of mountain boots with crampons was spotted this week on the narrow Bosses Ridge leading to the summit. Three others sunbathed on a fragile snow bridge over a crevasse.
“One man even tried to drag his poor dog up there, and a guide was punched for not stopping to let eight other climbers pass his group,” the mayor said.
“Tour companies market Mont Blanc like an amusement park or an excursion suitable for the general public so people underestimate the dangers,” Mr Peillex said. “Because of business lobbies that are more powerful than the national interest, the state is failing to enforce proper safety rules.” Climbers have turned the nearby towns of Chamonix and Courmayeur into bustling yearround resorts.
Mr Peillex argues that economic benefits must be balanced with safety. “If you’re sailing, you can be fined for not wearing a lifejacket, so why should you be allowed to kill yourself trying to climb MontBlanc in trainers?”
Yet many French climbers oppose climbing licences, as they believe they would rob mountaineering of its free, adventuring spirit.
The government’s top official in the region has rejected the mayor’s proposal. Pierre Lambert, the Haute Savoie prefect, said: “Given the current laws, it is impossible to force climbers to have minimum equipment or a licence.”