Death on Mont Blanc

Sixty years after the first ascent of K2, a record number of people stood on the summit on one day. On July 26, 32 people climbed to the top of the second highest summit in the world. The peak is notor iously dangerous, but the season saw a number of records broken. It led to more than one Himalayan climber asking, “Is K2 the new Everest? ” For ever y t wo climbers, one highaltitude porter/Sher pa summitted. Nearly 40 per cent of climbers who reached the summit did so without supplemental ox ygen. Success rate: nearly 80 per cent of climbers reached the summit, a new record, ever yone made it down to basecamp with the exception of the death of Miguel Angel Perez at camp four. Six woman, a new record, climbing K2.

on Mont Blanc as six people went missing in early August. They were discovered the following day; the group i ncluded one mountain guide. Death on Mont Blanc is unfortunately an a l l-to-common occur rence. With overeager guides and casual climbers crowding its slopes, the mountain is one of the deadliest in Europe. A total of 14 people died bet ween July and the star t of August. The six climbers were attempting to climb the Aiguil le Argentiere up the Aréte de Fléche route. Follow Gripped on Facebook and Twitter for daily news updates on climbing from across Canada and around the world. gripped.com @GrippedMagazine