Climber dies after rockfall on Mont Blanc: fourth death this week in the massif

New tragedy at altitude. MAXPPP – Vincent Isore

A 52-year-old climber died during the night from Friday to Saturday on the Mont Blanc route, victim of a rockfall in the Goûter corridor, we learned from the emergency services.

The rescue intervention took place around 2:30 a.m., specified the High Mountain Gendarmerie Platoon (PGHM) of Chamonix. According to the Dauphiné Libéré, the man was part of a rope team of three climbers. His two comrades were evacuated by helicopter.

Read also: Tragedy on Mont Blanc: at 4,600 meters above sea level, two climbers slip and fall into a crevasse, the oldest dies

This is the fourth death of the week in the Mont Blanc massif: on Friday, a 67-year-old climber was killed in a fall into a crevasse while he was descending the north face with a climbing companion. The latter was injured in the accident.

Already one dead in June at the same place

On Wednesday, two Spaniards aged 26 and 27 died after falling several hundred metres at the summit of Mont Blanc du Tacul (4,248 metres above sea level), at the level of the Gervasutti pillar. The two victims wanted to “test a block of stone with their ropes for a rappel”, which gave way.

Read also: He “saw his companions leave” into the void: two climbers fall to their deaths from a hundred meters while descending Mont Blanc

At the end of June, a thirty-year-old Polish man had already died after falling down the same Goûter corridor at an altitude of 3,500 m.

The corridor, known to be dangerous, is located on the normal route up Mont Blanc.