Plan ahead with confidence: Peace of Mind Booking Guarantee. Do you have any questions? Contact a specialist Live Chat. Load more reviews. Related Tours. Walk the entire TMB, staying in comfortable accommodation, with bag transfer included.
From 1. More Info. Enjoy the best of the TMB while staying in spectacularly located mountain huts. This itinerary is perfect for those wanting to experience the TMB in a shorter time frame. From 2. Walk the entire TMB with two extra days and stay in dorms in spectacular locations. Home Blog 20 interesting facts about Mont Blanc. Here we reveal some fascinating facts about Mont Blanc. Mont Blanc is French for White Mountain. 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. In Europe, climbers are much more objective-oriented, and less interested in learning the skills. They're more willing to rely on the expertise of the guide, and the focus is more on speed.
Loehr agrees. In Europe, the guides are more likely to teach just enough for you to follow them, not enough for you to really develop a skill or understanding of the risks and how to manage them. It's the approach to guiding there that's the problem. It's a combination of the sheer numbers of people on the mountain, the low level of experience of the people climbing the mountain, and the approach of the guides, that's causing the fatality rates on that mountain.
Loehr is quick to note that his view reflects only his own opinion and experiences. But the critique offered by both Loehr and Crothers correlates with my own experience on Mont Blanc, four years ago. In , I was recruited to be part of a guided climbing team attempting to summit Mont Blanc.
Only about five of our 22 team members had any climbing experience, and I was not one of them. See Chamonix for hours and tariffs. First consider whether you should even be thinking of going up. Starting with the good news: the youngest person to climb it was aged ten.
The fastest ascent was clocked at just under five hours. People have been climbing Mont Blanc for over years, variously clutching onto their tricorn hats, deer-stalkers or golfing caps. It must be almost half a million that have reached the summit, some clad in weird charity-stunt get-ups, and nowadays 20, ascend each year. Most come back safe.
But some don't. There are deaths in the Mont Blanc massif each year, though this figure includes skiing, hiking and rock-climbing fatalities not related to the summit attempt. A few of these are under-prepared fools, who face fines, rescue expenses, or worse sanctions if they've recklessly endangered others. But most of them are honest triers who've simply been defeated by a formidable mountain. All routes are strenuous and at high altitude, with long hours of trekking usually over three days, ie two nights on the mountain.
You don't need to be superhuman, but you do need to be fit at the outset. If you have a long-term medical condition eg asthma, it must be mild and stable enough to remain controlled under these challenges. All routes cross ice fields where you need to be competent with crampons and ice picks.
The mountain authorities post a list of essential gear that you must carry, and you may be fined and turned back if you're deficient. And you need a guide unless you're familiar with the ascent. The trail itself will be obvious, with dozens of other climbers above and below — until all of a sudden the visibility shuts down. The guide doesn't just shuttle up and down on a tram-line, he or she has a better idea of what lies ahead in terrain and weather , how each individual in the group is faring, and what options are available.
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