In the end, there are a number of reasons. But one big factor is the fact that European tour companies do portray the climb as a "long walk" that anybody who is in good physical condition can accomplish, with no previous climbing experience. The mountain also has extremely easy access -- teleferiques gondolas can take climbers up the first 9, feet or so.
As a result, many of the 20,plus people who attempt the summit each year are inexperienced or completely novice climbers. They rely on the expertise of paid climbing guides to get them up and down the mountain safely. The advisability of having paid guides take climbers up challenging mountain peaks that they are unqualified to attempt themselves has been a hot topic of controversy in the climbing world ever since the Mount Everest disaster, chronicled in Jon Krakauer's book Into Thin Air , in which 8 people died.
In Europe, however, using paid guides to assist climbers is a time-honored tradition. The first ascent of the Matterhorn, in , on the Swiss-Italian border, was a guided climb. Worth noting, perhaps, is that four of the five "clients" perished on the descent. But while guided climbs of peaks like Mount Everest may have become a far more popular and highly paid phenomenon in the past 20 years, relying on the skill of a guide to get recreational climbers safely up and down a mountain is the accepted norm in Europe.
That doesn't mean the practice is without risks. For one thing, it makes the slopes of mountains like Mont Blanc crowded in the summer months, since the number of "qualified" climbers is much higher than if only those capable of scaling the peak themselves were attempting it. Aside from the environmental cost of that many humans on a mountain an issue even at places like Mount Everest as well as Mont Blanc , so many climbers means more people are exposed to more of the risks that a high-altitude mountain presents.
There were, for example, 28 climbers caught by the avalanche on Mont Blanc on July The crowded slopes also mean competition for footing in narrow places, as teams attempt to pass each other, and long waits at some points for access to passageways -- which means that climbers are exposed to high-altitude health risks, as well as cold and bad weather, for longer periods of time.
The crowded nature of Alpine peaks like Mont Blanc means that spots in the overnight huts along the summit route are difficult to get. So if a team has a date reserved, and the weather looks iffy or someone doesn't feel good, there's still tremendous pressure to "go," because rescheduling or delaying a trip is difficult. Added to that is the pressure paid guides are under -- especially in Europe -- to get their clients up and down as quickly as possible, so they can get to the next group.
One American climbing guide I spoke to referred to this approach as the "production line" approach to mountain climbing. But that pressure to get the climb over with as quickly as possible, and push as many people to the summit as possible, also adds pressure to the "go" decision, regardless of conditions or how slow some members of the group are moving. With Mont Blanc, there's also the fact that so many thousands of people have managed to climb it that it kind of dumbs down the challenge, in many people's minds.
But the truth is, it's a really big mountain, and most of the people who climb it don't even know or understand what the dangers are. Dangers, one is tempted to mention, that include avalanches like the one that killed nine climbers on July 12th. The guides [with that group on Mont Blanc] would have known the conditions were right for an avalanche there.
But again, that's part of what the production line mentality does. People ignore the avalanche danger on mountains quite a bit on big mountains, because it's a hit or miss risk. And guides often stop thinking it's dangerous because they're up there so much, it's easy to get complacent.
That complacency, and even the risks caused by a production line mentality of guided climbing expeditions, can and do happen everywhere. But American guides -- even those who certify other guides to work in Europe -- say that those risks are markedly higher in Europe than in the United States, because Europeans have a distinctly approach different to guiding, and to climbing and risk itself, than their American counterparts.
Europeans are far less risk-averse. Chamonix the French town at the base of Mont Blanc is where extreme skiing was born. The fatality rate there just wouldn't be tolerated by land managers here. But it's not just that higher risks are more tolerated in Europe. Europeans, Crothers says, have a different approach to climbing itself -- a result, he believes, of the long history of guided climbing in Alpine climbing culture. Have your say Add to itinerary Open map How to get there. Additional information The Mont Blanc mountain range.
The passes cols on the Alps road. A modern winter sports resort situated in the heart of the Portes du Soleil ski area. Related articles The Mont Blanc mountain range. Alps Guide to the territory - Tourism and staying here. Campsites in the Haute-Savoie Open-air accommodation. Restaurants in the Haute-Savoie Regional and international cuisine, style of restaurant and menus.
Leisure activities in the Haute-Savoie A great selection of activities including sports, well-being, gourmet food and entertainment. Destination A hotel. Here we reveal some fascinating facts about Mont Blanc. Mont Blanc is French for White Mountain. With a summit of 15,ft 4,m , Mont Blanc is the highest mountain in the Alps and in Europe. While the official elevation was once 15,ft, in it was measured to be 15,ft. From any view of angle, Mont Blanc is a breath-taking sight.
The mountain ranked 11th in the world in topographic prominence. The mountain is located in the French Alps, very close to the border with Italy. Mont Blanc's summit is in France, although a subsidiary lower summit is located some ft from the highest point and is called Monte Bianco di Courmayeur.
A seven-mile long Mont Blanc tunnel links France with Italy and travels directly underneath the mountain. In , Marie Paradis became the first woman to reach the summit of Mont Blanc. On July 11, , Basque speed climber and runner Kilian Jornet did the ascent and descent in just 4 hours 57 minutes 40 seconds. More than 20, climbers reach the summit of the mountain every year. While summiting Mont Blanc is an exciting goal for many mountaineers in Europe, walkers can also enjoy hiking the Tour du Mont Blanc, a circuit of the Mont Blanc massif that offers superb views at every turn.
Macs Adventure offer a variety of different ways to walk the Tour du Mont Blanc. Mont Blanc is regarded by many as the birthplace of modern mountaineering.
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