ROME – Italian mountain guides have suspended climbs of Mont Blanc via the main route on the Italian side because heatwaves are destabilising the glacier leading to Europe’s highest peak, an official told AFP on Wednesday.
“With the heat we had in June, conditions deteriorated quickly. It’s no longer safe enough to take clients up there,” said Alex Campedelli, president of the Courmayeur Guides Society.
“The glacier is full of crevasses and it’s hard to find the right route. We decided last week we won’t sell that ascent to clients anymore.”
Climbers are still able to tackle the peak from the French side, where the route was last closed in 2022 because of falling rocks.
Switzerland has already recommended climbers do not try to tackle routes up the Matterhorn.
“On the Mont Blanc and Matterhorn routes, we simply need to have the humility to stop them for a while,” Pierre Mathey of the Swiss Association of Mountain Guides (ASGM) told AFP.
“This heatwave is dragging on and we’re seeing significant warming of the ground, snow and ice are melting, and the permafrost is thawing,” which was causing causing rockfalls and other hazards, he said. – AFP
