Climbing
Chamonix High-Mountain Gendarmerie are requesting witnesses to come forward following the disappearance of a climber, Le Dauphine reports.
The 46 year old man, of French nationality, left the Crozat carpark in Bionnassay early on the morning of Tuesday 15th August. He planned to climb Mont Blanc alone via the notorious Goûter route. The missing man is 5’11” (180cm) tall, weighs 165 lbs (75kg) and has short brown hair. It is reported that he was wearing a dark outfit and left without any proper outdoor equipment, such as ropes or crampons.
As a result of recent accidents, a Mayor in an area of the French Alps which is a gateway to Mont Blanc said Thursday he planned to fine climbers attempting to scale the mountain without proper outdoor gear such as crampons and ropes. Exasperated by a series of accidents on western Europe’s highest peak involving ill-equipped tourists, Mayor Jean-Marc Peillex has issued a local regulation mandating mountaineering equipment. The most popular route to scale the 4,810-metre (15,780-feet) mountain, known as the “Voie Royale”, runs through Peillex’s Saint-Gervais district.
The threat of a fine, set to be modest 38 euros (44 dollars), was needed because thrill-seeking visitors “have refused to listen to the warnings”, Peillex told AFP.
The new rule, which will be translated into English and Russian and displayed publicly, requires climbers to have a hat, a waterproof mountain jacket, boots, crampons and equipment needed to escape from crevices. Peillex is hoping police will enforce the law to send a message to others.
Over August, climbers from Japan, the Czech Republic, France and South Korea have died, and local authorities also stopped a couple from Hungary trying to take their nine-year-old twins towards the summit.
The PGHM have launched an appeal for anybody that may have seen the missing climber between Tuesday 15th August and Wednesday 16th August to contact them at the PGHM-Chamonix on +33 (0) 4 50 53 16 89, or info@pghm-chamonix.com. For further details, you can check the official Facebook page of the PGHM-Chamonix.
