Another Alps Tragedy: 8 Dead on Mont Blanc

An already deadly summer in the European Alps turned even more tragic with the deaths of eight more climbers on 15,780-foot-high Mont Blanc, Europe’s highest mountain, early last Sunday morning. As of today the climbers, five Austrians and three Swiss, are missing and presumed dead and buried after an early morning avalanche swept over them as they ascended Mont Blanc du Tacul, a sub-peak of Mont Blanc, along a popular climbing route to the highest summit. After heroic attempts by French rescuers, including digging some survivors from the snow, French Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said, “There’s no chance of finding anyone alive.”

Early Sunday morning, August 24, a large group of climbers was ascending the route to the summit of Mont Blanc du Tacul, undoubtedly to witness a beautiful alpine sunrise. They were doing everything right, having left in the early morning hours when there is less avalanche danger and following the worn path across the upper glaciers. At about 3 a.m., a huge block or serac of ice, 218 yards long or twice the length of a football field, broke away at 11,800 feet and quickly engulfed the climbers. One survivor, Nicolas Duquesne from France, recalled, “The guide shouted ‘Run fast! Run fast!'” He and six others were able to escape the avalanche, but eight were caught and swept 3,000 feet down the mountain’s north flank.

The area where the avalanche occurred is prone to avalanche. A similar accident occurred in mid-August 2006, when a slab avalanche, also on Mont Blanc du Tacul (4248m), hit 10 climbers and killed two French men. Last week a 68-year-old Japanese climber fell off Mont Blanc while descending from the summit. On August 7 Ian Jackson, a 19-year-old British climber, died in a sport climbing accident after apparently incorrectly threading the chains at an anchor on Les Gaillands crag below Mont Blanc. He recently wrote on his blog: “These last years I've lost my belly, and took climbing seriously, finding it a vent from life, and somewhere to push myself competitively. I've learned a lot about myself, some of it good, some of it bad. Climbing is my demon, but it's also my cure.” In late July this year, an accident on nearby Mont Dolent claimed the lives of four Dutch climbers, a father and his son and two daughters, after they fell while descending. This summer, over 100 climbers have died in the Alps since June 1, with over 25 on the Mont Blanc massif alone.

Photo above: The avalanche occurred in the middle of the glaciated north face of Mont Blanc du Tacul.
Photo courtesy Neil Wilkie