Advertisement

France to tackle Mont Blanc overcrowding with daily cap on climbers

The Local France
The Local France - [email protected]
France to tackle Mont Blanc overcrowding with daily cap on climbers
A group of mountaineers takes the 'Couloir du Gouter' on the 'Voie Royale" route to climb atop the Mont-Blanc peak on August 6, 2018. Photo: AFP

France will impose a daily cap of 214 climbers on Mont Blanc next year, one of several measures taken to limit overcrowding on Europe's highest peak, a local official said Tuesday.

Advertisement

"It's a tough decision but a very good one, because Mont Blanc is a climb unlike any other. You have to be prepared," Mayor Jean-Marc Peillex of Saint Gervais, the Alpine town where the most popular route to the top of the mountain begins, told AFP.
   
More than 300 people have been pitting their wits against the mountain each day this summer season despite the growing risk of rockfall as high temperatures thaw more ground at higher altitudes.
   
At least 16 have died so far this year, though just one has occurred on the busy "Royal Route".
   
Police this summer began requiring aspiring climbers to have a reservation at one of the refuges on the route before letting them proceed.
 
READ ALSO:

Climbing Mont Blanc: 10 reasons to think twiceThe summit of Mont Blanc - "more crowded than your average bus stop". Photo: Chriscom/Flickr   

Peillex said he was considering the creation of a "snow brigade" of officers to enforce the new rules.
   
Officials say the scramble to summit the 4,810-metre peak has caused tensions among climbers, some of whom are ill-prepared (wearing trainers, for example) or unfamiliar with mountaineering etiquette.
   
Peillex reported a tourist setting up a tent at the very top of the mountain -- not the landscape most people climbed all that way to see.
   
Skirmishes have been reported among climbers jostling for position on key sections of the trail, while fake guides have also been found leading tourists up.
   
The new limits were announced after a series of meetings over the weekend between local officials, France's mountain police brigade, the French mountaineering federation and guide associations.

More

Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected].
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.

Please log in to leave a comment.

See Also