French authorities are calling for police to enforce fines against climbers who attempt to scale Mont Blanc without proper clothing and equipment.
The move follows a series of deaths and accidents on western Europe’s highest mountain. Earlier this month, a Hungarian woman and her nine-year-old twins were helicoptered off the peak by mountain rescuers.
Jean-Marc Peillex, mayor of Saint-Gervais, from where many Mont Blanc climbers set off, issued a local decree taking “immediate effect” last week warning that hikers would face fines if they were not adequately equipped to tackle the 4,810m (15,774ft) peak.
Now, he is asking the French government to send more gendarmes up into the mountains to enforce the rules.
His list of required equipment for those taking a local route known as the “royal path” up Mont Blanc include a hat, sunglasses, ski mask, climbing shoes and warm wind-proof jacket.
Peillex said the decree, which will be posted on mountain paths in French, English, German and Russian, was a “rap over the knuckles” for the “hotheads, who refuse to listen to advice”.
He said the measures were intended to make sure climbers were “prepared for the risks” inherent in climbing the mountain, including sudden changes in weather conditions, rockfalls, escaping from crevices and ascending glaciers.
The decree followed the death of a 46-year-old French man who attempted to climb Mont Blanc by the Goûter route wearing shorts and trainers. Mountain rescue teams have now called off the search for a missing 35-year-old Japanese climber, and climbers from the Czech Republic, Korea and a Ukrainian have all perished on Mont Blanc this month.
After the death of the French man, Lt Col Stéphane Bozon, of the mountain gendarmes at Chamonix, told journalists the climber had been wearing “only trail equipment”, including shoes that would have been more appropriate for “a grandmother walking in the town”.
“I’m furious … Mont Blanc is high mountain climbing. It’s alpinism with a capital A. This was the height of stupidity. He might have been a good trail runner, but he sure as hell didn’t know the danger of the mountain,” Bozon told Lyon Capitale.
Peillex said he realised his “decree risks being symbolic” and has asked the French interior minister, Gérard Collomb, for extra gendarmes in order to issue verbal warnings and, if necessary, fines of €38 (£35), to those who ignore it.
However, alpinist Lionel Tassan has posted an open letter to Peillex arguing that the decree may prove to be “counter-productive” as a helmet and gloves were missing from the list of recommended equipment.
“You’re making certain people believe that if they have this equipment they’re prepared … without even considering the question of their experience,” Tassan wrote.
The French sports paper L’Equipe said the decree was primarily aimed at “stopping those who practise ultra-endurance sports” from attempting to make rapid ascents in trainers and light clothing, but questioned whether a fine would dissuade those intent on making the climb.
“Will a €38 penalty be enough to dissuade the trailers determined to make the ascent of Mont-Blanc in a day or convince novice climbers to employ the services of a mountain guide?” it asked.
In 2014 Peillex threatened to take legal action against Paul Sweeney, an American who attempted an ascent of Mont Blanc with his two children, Shannon, aged 11, and Paul Jnr, nine.
Sweeney had wanted to set the world record for the youngest climbers to reach the peak, but the three were almost killed by an avalanche on a section of the mountain nicknamed the “corridor of death”.
Peillex accused Sweeney of reckless and selfish behaviour. “Climbing Mont Blanc is a matter for serious mountaineers. It isn’t a trek or a playground to get a mention in the Guinness World Records,” he said.
