Don't be Fooled Climbing Mont Blanc is Not a Walk in the Park
British press give a false sense of security about climbing Europe's highest peak
The Guardian recently published a travel essay entitled "Mont Blanc with L plates: hill walkers can now climb Europe's highest peak" which makes it sound encouragingly easy and open to anyone to achieve. Irresponsible? Yes I think so.
We frequently see the regular numbers of accidents (fatal or otherwise) reported in the news in and around Chamonix, and often publish news like that ourselves, and it worries me that arcticles like this could potentially propogate more. I'm not saying that everyone who reads it will be packing their bags and heading over here to scale Mont Blanc, but there's surely going to be a large number of people who will be adding it to their bucket list.
The mayor of St Gervais, Jean-Marc Peillex, has spoken out in the last few days about the number of 'ad-hoc alpinists treating Mont Blanc like an amusement park' and rightly so, the statistics speak for themselves. The mountains are a playground to many, but they also need to be treated with respect, and caution. Climbing Mont Blanc is not a walk in the park, it comes with risks.
Chamonix Tourist office have even created a pamphlet entitled "No, Mont Blanc ascent is not easy", which is well worth a read, and they stress that 'climbing Mont Blanc is best left to experienced mountaineers'. You might also want to have a look at the OHM website (Office de Haute-Montagne), which gives you information about helping to reduce risk in the mountains, organising your trip & assistance and rescue.
I'm not saying don't climb Mont Blanc, just if you're not an experienced mountaineer, speak to a local guide who can give you lots of advice before you even start booking your tickets to come over.
