Bodies of four missing mountaineers found on Mont Blanc
At a time when all the PGHM (Peloton de Gendarmerie de Haute Montagne) were engaged in the search and rescue on Monday in the Mont Blanc du Tacul avalanche, the Piste security were being alerted to another incident. Since Monday 25 July, four further alpinists, two French, two Spanish, had been missing for at least a week on the Italian side on Mont-Blanc. The missing French alpinists last made contact with their families previous Thursday from their bivouac at 3850 meters (on the Italian side). They were heading for the Borelli refuge however, their journey after leaving their bivouac was unknown, making the rescue more complicated for the Piste Security.
The two missing Spanish alpinists who originated from the Pyrénées were reported to have left the refuge Monzino last week before attempting the difficult Arête de Peuterey.
The vehicles of the four missing alpinists were found in the car park Val Veny in Courmayeur. Although the searches continued on Thursday, conditions at 4000 metres were not favourable on the Italian side, with fresh snow at 4000 metres further complicating the search.
Deteriorating weather conditions at altitude meant that the search and rescue mission was postponed on Thursday, but resumed on Friday where the mountaineers were found on the west of Mont Blanc, in the Aiguilles Grises area. It would appear that the two French men slid off the Arête linking the Mont Blanc de Courmayeur and Mont Blanc at 4700m having followed a difficult route.
It was likely that a slab gave way with the recent snowfall, or they got lost in poor weather conditions. The two bodies were difficult to access having been caught up in ice and snow at the foot of a couloir. The two missing Spaniards were found only 70 metres away after following a similar route.
