'Snow! Snow! Get Moving!': The Lethal Lure of Mont Blanc

[unhappycamper]

http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/popularity-of-mont-blanc-makes-climbing-it-more-dangerous-a-990885.html



Every year, some 30,000 people attempt to climb Mont Blanc, the highest peak in the Alps, and a shocking number die on the mountain. The reason, say locals, is overcrowding, foolhardiness and a lack of respect for the White Lady.

'Snow! Snow! Get Moving!': The Lethal Lure of Mont Blanc
By Lukas Eberle and Victoria Weidemann
September 11, 2014 – 02:20 PM

In Chamonix and Saint-Gervais, the municipalities at the foot of Mont Blanc, everyone knows the name Patrick Sweeney. The American's story is the outrage of the year. It's even getting more attention than the stories of those who died.

Tanned and broad-shouldered, the 45-year-old Sweeney is a businessman from Keene, New Hampshire. He used to be one of the best rowers in the US and is now a mountain biker and takes part in airplane races. For the last 28 years, he has also been a passionate mountaineer -- and he recently cooked up a particularly audacious adventure. This summer, he and his family traveled to the French Alps to climb Mont Blanc with his children. His daughter, Shannon, is 11 years old; his son JP is nine.

The father filmed his family with a GoPro camera as they slogged their way up the mountainside and he later gave the video to US broadcaster ABC to be aired on "Good Morning America." Immediately, the images found their way into the Internet and spread around the world. Since then, Patrick Sweeney has been an outcast.

Jean-Marc Peillex, the mayor of Saint-Gervais, considers Sweeney to be "sick," and the American has become subject number one of bar table discussions among mountain guides. Where, many wonder, does healthy enthusiasm cross the line into excessive ambition? Examining that question, though, has become an annual necessity at Mont Blanc.

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http://boston.cbslocal.com/2014/07/14/cambridge-family-survives-avalanche-at-mont-blanc/

Cambridge Family Survives Avalanche At Mont Blanc
July 14, 2014 6:45 PM

CAMBRIDGE (CBS) – They would have been the youngest to ever summit Western Europe’s highest peak, Mont Blanc.

A Cambridge father and his children, 11-year-old Shannon and 9-year-old Patrick, were a few thousand feet from their goal, and a couple of days into their trip two weeks ago.

~snip~

He caught the whole experience on a GoPro camera, as his kids slid 50 yards down, stopped by the safety rope they were tied to, which was attached to him.

“My kids started screaming. They said, ‘Dad we need help. Dad help, help,” he told WBZ-TV.

[hlthe2b]

1. From the article...

Sweeney now wants to return to Mont Blanc with his son. "PJ has until June 2015 to break the age record," he says.

But the competition is intense. In August, the gendarmerie stopped an Austrian and his son from continuing their ascent of Mont Blanc. The boy was just five years old.

I understand there are some that defend allowing children to engage in such incredibly dangerous endeavors, just to set a record. I recall the 7 yo child that died trying to set an age record for piloting a plane. I was just a mile or two away when her plane went down. It was devastating and the surviving family likewise defended. sigh....
http://www.nytimes.com/1996/04/12/us/girl-7-seeking-us-flight-record-dies-in-crash.html