► “Mountain development must remain an exception”
Catherine Destivellemountaineer, director of Éditions du Mont-Blanc.
“By removing these mooring stakes on the normal route of Mont-Blanc, Christophe Profit is opening up an indispensable debate on the concessions we are ready to make as mountaineers to allow “everyman and lady” to access the high mountains. Have we gone too far in opening up the race to the Alpine peaks to the general public? Probably. The influx of neophytes from all over the world, who are launching an assault on the highest peak in Europe with no knowledge of the environment poses a real problem.
If amateurs want to deepen their practice of mountaineering, then they will have to train to acquire the required level. But it is clear that without a rope, without oxygen and without a Sherpa, hundreds of people will no longer be able to reach the summit of Everest each year. At the same time, we must not appear as ayatollahs of mountaineering. Reserving access to the summits to a handful of seasoned professionals would be unfair. I understand the need to equip certain routes so that amateurs can satisfy their dream of climbing. On the Matterhorn, there are also fixed ropes installed on the two normal routes, Italian side and Swiss side. However, exceptionally equipping a normal route should not be a license to massively develop the mountain.
I am concerned about an unethical practice of mountaineering which would only consist of ticking off the highest peaks of each continent: saying that one has climbed Mont Blanc, Everest or Kilimanjaro as medals are brandished. It’s no longer mountaineering, it’s consumption. This human pride is all the less tenable in view of the evolution of climatic conditions.
Today, the mountain is more difficult to climb. There is less snow, more ice. However, as the poet René Daumal wrote, “Mountaineering is the art of traversing the mountains while facing the greatest dangers with the greatest caution”. From now on, prudence imposes not to venture on certain massifs in August and to concentrate our practice on the months of May, June and July. I have no desire to climb the Drus in summer as I have been able to do in the past because it is no longer reasonable. In the Aiguilles de Chamonix, rockfalls are more and more frequent.
The climber must play with the elements and prepare enough to get home without a scratch. There, suddenly, stakes dictate the path to follow as we want to have a free look in a virgin mountain. Finding the mountain fitted out spoils the pleasure we have in apprehending the risk, in scrutinizing the snow-covered reliefs. It is nevertheless necessary to be tolerant and to understand the problems of the Mont-Blanc guides who must meet the requirements of their customers on a daily basis. »
► “We must rely on the responsibility of the guides”
Eric Fourniermayor (various center) of Chamonix-Mont-Blanc (Haute-Savoie).
“The massification of access to the high mountains is a myth. All the statistics produced by the National Union of Mountain Guides (SNGM) and the French Federation of French Alpine Clubs (FFCAM) show a drop in activity between 2,700 and 4,000 meters above sea level. The only route that is the subject of recurring discussions is the normal route of Mont Blanc where we find not an over-frequentation, but a bad-frequentation. Indeed, individuals challenge themselves to do Mont Blanc as they might run the New York marathon. Except, once you’re engaged, it’s harder to back out.
There is therefore a need to recall the rules, to provide information and prevention. For example, access to Mont Blanc is prohibited for those who do not have a reservation in a refuge. Conceived half a century ago, the Chamonix-Mont-Blanc High Mountain Office welcomes 60,000 people each year to provide information for this purpose. On the other hand, I take issue with those who claim to secure the routes through a regulatory arsenal or lane markings.
No one denies the safety requirements but, in the high mountains, signaling one day can be totally inappropriate the next day. It is indeed the problem linked to the installation of mooring piles on an unstable glacial site that the Christophe Profit case highlights. Nothing will replace a judgment of opportunity from the leader of the rope who, alone, assesses the danger. The least bad solution remains to rely on the responsibility of the mountain professional, the sole custodian of the analysis of topographic, isothermal and meteorological data. During the same day, the quality of the snow fluctuates, rockfalls can occur. This is why the regulatory temptation is dangerous.
In my opinion, it is necessary to rely on the personal responsibility of the mountain guides, which is moreover in a context of climate change. By offering a safe and technically affordable alternative passage to circumvent the crevasse that appeared on the Bosses ridge, Christophe Profit reminds us that the notion of adaptation is consubstantial with his activity. I will always prefer the freedom of the mountaineer to everything safe.
As mayor of Chamonix-Mont-Blanc, it would be a total lack of humility to claim to manage thousands of routes inscribed in a centuries-old tradition on a daily basis. I myself am the son of a mountain guide. When I hear about a mountaineering business, it makes me smile. A day in the company of a guide costs on average 450 €. However, the two mountain guide companies in Chamonix and Saint-Gervais have undertaken to take only one client per guide at a time. The days of three-person ropes are over. Mountaineering is above all a passion. »
