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Swiss mountaineer dies on Mont Blanc while rescuing climber

Mont Blanc
The Swiss climber died on the French side of Mont Blanc Keystone / Alessandro Della Bella

A 62-year-old Swiss climber has died on the French side of Mont Blanc. He fell 300 metres while trying to rescue another rope party, the Italian agency ansa said on Monday.

The accident occurred at around midday on Sunday on the Aiguille d’Argentière, a 3,901-metre summit on the border with canton Valais in southwestern Switzerland. Three two-person roped parties – four women and two men – had set off in the morning from the Argentière Refuge (2,771 metres).

At an altitude of more than 3,000 metres, the two women at the rear of the group slid down the snowy slope for around 20 metres. The 62-year-old Swiss man immediately untied his rope to help them, but he fell and did not survive.

The two women, a 31-year-old German and a 46-year-old Swiss, were slightly injured. The three other climbers, from Peru, South Africa and Switzerland, were unhurt.

Figures for 2022 from the Swiss Alpine Club published in March 2023 show that the number of fatal accidents in high mountain areas decreased between 2021 and 2022External link from 131 to 109 deaths; 40% of these were non-Swiss climbers.

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