Nine dead in avalanche on Mont Blanc

bikehikeskifish · Jul 12, 2012

Nine dead in avalanche on Mont Blanc

Tim

Maddy · Jul 12, 2012

Heard about this earlier today.

I like the last line "It's part of the thrill that something can go wrong," he said.
Several days ago someone turned back because of danger and others were "waiting" for something like this to happen because conditions were right for it.

Was it worth it?

Reminds me of the Everest disaster. Clients paying to bag the summit and the guides felt compelled to give them their money's worth.
That didn't work out so well and history repeats itself once again.
Very sad. Tragic losses.

Brambor · Jul 12, 2012

what surprised me was the factoid that about 50 climbers per year perish on Mont Blanc. Isn't that much more than the worst year on Everest?

Mohamed Ellozy · Jul 12, 2012

Lots more people climb Mont Blanc than attempt Everest

Bombadil · Jul 13, 2012

Maddy said:
Heard about this earlier today.
Reminds me of the Everest disaster. Clients paying to bag the summit and the guides felt compelled to give them their money's worth.
That didn't work out so well and history repeats itself once again.
Very sad. Tragic losses.

I agree it's tragic but I see few parallels to Everest. Just cuz they were guided? As far as the causes of death during the Everest disaster I don't know of any being caused by an avalanche. The Everest scenario will repeat itself as will this but this strikes me as people heading up in mediocre snow conditions (haven't read anything in the reports commenting on how good/bad the snow actually was besides the obvious that an avalanche did in fact happen. Was it a high probability??). I'd say this reminds me more of an avalanche/icefall like the '81 Rainier tragedy where one swept down above Ingraham Flats where naturally a good chunk of the climbers are guided. Just my 2 cents.
Pat

Maddy · Jul 13, 2012

Bombadil said:
I agree it's tragic but I see few parallels to Everest. Just cuz they were guided? As far as the causes of death during the Everest disaster I don't know of any being caused by an avalanche. The Everest scenario will repeat itself as will this but this strikes me as people heading up in mediocre snow conditions (haven't read anything in the reports commenting on how good/bad the snow actually was besides the obvious that an avalanche did in fact happen. Was it a high probability??). I'd say this reminds me more of an avalanche/icefall like the '81 Rainier tragedy where one swept down above Ingraham Flats where naturally a good chunk of the climbers are guided. Just my 2 cents.
Pat

YES...IMHO the parallels are "both were guided", $$$$$, disrespect for the mountain, resulting in serious loss of life. The actual final blow was not the same, but sadly both groups shared that same outcome.

Everest-
The guides pressed on trying to guide clients to the summit, long after what should have been the turn around time. Clients had paid the big bucks and bagging the peak was critical. Much discussion was given to that topic after the fact and not only on VFTT. The pressure is on the guides. Lots of competition for business also. People pay and they want results. Lots was said about how this might have factored into guides pressing on in adverse conditions.

Mt Blanc-
The guides pressed on heading up in "mediocre snow conditions" in which one climber had turned back previously as explained in the article. Mention was made that some folks were expecting something really bad would happen soon up there. Turns out their assessment was correct.

Agreed...the Everest scenario will repeat itself, and so will the Mt Blanc scenario. In both cases, on these particular guided expeditions, I think they all lost sight of the fact that "the mountain will always win".

Regardless of what name the mountain has, or where it is located, if we disrespect it, we are courting grave danger.
Just one more parallel.

Bjarni · Jul 17, 2012

I was with a group that was completing the Tour du Mont Blanc the day that happened, and we saw a lot of helicopter activity. The reports in Chamonix indicated that there were two separate ropes of 14 climbers each, which although I'm not a technical climber myself sounds like way too many. One of our trip leaders who has guided on Denali and in the Himalayas said it was very likely that contributed to the numbers of climbers affected.