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Rock and ice falls and inexperience results in a busy day for the rescue services

featured in News & reviews Author Ellie Mahoney, Chamonix Editor Updated

The continued good weather we have been having this month has inspired many people to head up the mountains and make the most of the climbing before the snow comes. However, the heat is making conditions more dangerous than normal at this time of year and rock and ice falls have been plaguing those tackling some of the popular routes in the area.

Last Sunday alone, the Peloton de gendarmerie de haute montagne (PGHM) was called out eleven times to assist stuck or injured climbers. In the morning, those rescued included a climber hit on the head by ice falls and another with a double leg fracture, both heading up Mont Blanc from Mont Maudit. Higher up, on the summit of Mont Blanc itself, they were called out to assist a victim of severe altitude sickness. Elsewhere in the valley, two climbers were rescued from the Aiguille de la Rebublique after they had become trapped on their ascent, and in the same area, another group of climbers were stuck on the rock face after the leader of their group fell.

In the afternoon, after assisting two parties of walkers who had lost their way, the PGHM were called to intervene in the Grandes Jorasses where two young climbers were in technical difficulty on the demanding Walker spur. It was this situation that particularly infuriated the gendarmes as the climbers were not in the least prepared to embark on such a difficult climb. The lead climber, a 28 year old local from Les Houches (and apparently quite well know to the rescue services!) had persuaded a younger, less experienced climber to tackle the route with him. “They became stuck in the first 200m of the difficult 1200m ascent which was in all likelihood, well beyond their technical capabilities” commented one of the gendarmes.

As we reported earlier this week, this summer has seen an increase in the number of interventions carried out by the pompiers and mountain rescue services. Careless and dangerous behaviour such as that displayed by the climbers on the Walker spur is something that the PGHM find difficult to stomach and makes their already demanding job even harder.

Source: Le Dauphine
Photo Credit: Fred S.