A 26-year-old guide and her 30-year-old client were found dead late Friday afternoon in the Mont-Blanc massif (Alps) in Chamonix, the Chamonix gendarmerie told AFP on Saturday.
“They were discovered around 6:15 p.m.” by the high mountain gendarmerie platoon (PGHM) of the town of Chamonix, a source in the gendarmerie told AFP, after falling while taking the normal route of the Aiguille du Peigne.
The bodies of the victims, both French, “were found in one face of the needle by witnesses who were also hiking the summit and passed the alert”, explained the PGHM. It is an accident and an investigation to determine the causes of it is underway, added the same source.
“The high mountains have become more dangerous with the drought but access was not subject to any particular prohibition”, specified the PGHM. On August 5, two refuges allowing the ascent of Mont-Blanc were closed due to the “danger of death” represented by numerous rock falls due to the drought.