According to the AP, the PGHM of Chamonix reports that a 60 year old woman from Thiez France (in the Haute Savoie) suffered a fatal fall while climbing Mont Blanc today during her descent on the voie normale (normal route). Her name has not yet been released. The weather today was full sun, and the weather system has been a very stable high pressure system for around one week on the mountain.
We were out hiking this afternoon, and crossed the Bionassy glacier on our way to the Col de Tricot. The Bionassy Glacier runs in between the Dome de Goûter and the Aiguille du Bionassy. This is the region were several people have died this year in bad weather, becoming disoriented and falling on the steep face of the Bionassy.
We heard very loud rock fall and/or ice fall several times this afternoon and saw two planes go into and out of the area. Apparently it was one of those rock falls which resulted in this woman’s death. According to the report, she was thrown off balance by the rock fall while she was traversing the couloir of the Dome de Goûter at 3200m of altitude. She fell around 100 meters, and died despite rapid intervention from rescuers.
See previous deaths on Mont Blanc this year : http://musingsofabittergirl.wordpress.com/2007/08/07/more-mont-blanc-deaths/
October 8, 2007 at 16:28 |
[...] Perhaps you want to look at my tracking of deaths on Mt Blanc this year (2007) in prior posts … [...]