A 30 year old British man has suffered a fatal fall on the Couloir du Goûter, on route down from the Mont Blanc via the Gouter route.
At 9:30 on Saturday morning the Chamonix mountain rescue team were alerted of a incident on the Goûter couloir, where a fellow climber had seen a man slide on the rocky slope.
The rescue team and medics were quick to the scene with a PGHM helicopter, guided by the witness, however on arrival they could only declare the man as dead.
The British man from Newcastle was on holiday with a group of 8 friends, they had sucessfully summited the Mont Blanc the day before without a mountain guide. Four of the party were descending from the Gouter refuge, un-roped and without a guide on Staurday morning when the accident happened.
The Goûter couloir has a long tragic history of fatal incidents and yet is a integral part of the most frequented route to the Mont Blanc, the Gouter route. Petzl put together a full report on the risks of this tricky section of the route along with suggestions how to make the Goûter couloir safer.
Our thoughts go out to the man's friends and family.
