AFP UK

In a year marked by drought and heatwaves, rockfalls and gaping crevices have made access to the top of Mont Blanc even more difficult and perilous — to the great frustration of amateur mountaineers.

Officially, none of the seven routes leading to the summit, at 4,807 metres (15,774 feet), is closed, but access conditions at the end of July have deteriorated to such an extent that only the most experienced climbers are able to make the ascent, experts say. 

A lack of snow during the winter has laid bare vast areas of greyish glacier — yellowish where sand dust from the Sahara has accumulated — riven with fractures.

The heat did the rest, causing the melting of the fragile snow bridges that make it possible to cross the crevasses as well as leading to landslides.

In the southeastern French town of Chamonix, at the foot of the “White Giant”, the season is in full swing with thousands of tourists flocking by cable car to the top of the Aiguille du Midi, at 3,842 metres, the closest you can get to the summit of Mont Blanc without hiking or climbing.

– ‘Awful’ conditions –

But in the small cave carved out of the ice which serves as a changing room and a starting point for mountaineers for many mountain races, there are fewer people than ever putting on crampons right now.

Scotsman Evan Warden and his 14-year-old son David said they were shocked to discover the “awful” conditions.

“Everywhere we walked there was just constant rockfall and the crevices constantly open up. (We were) pretty worried,” said David, 14, on his first visit to the Alps.

“MB is too risky… that was our plan, yes but I’ve not seen this much rockfall here in a long time. That’s global warming definitely,” Evan said, adding that the pair had hoped to do the “Trois Monts” (three peaks) route.

Norwegians Monica and Marten Antheun had also been hoping to have a go at the famed peak after three years’ waiting.

They had booked a trip, but it was cancelled.

“I think the guides know the area and the conditions. It’s okay for us, we can do it later”, said Monica.

Guiding firm, Les Compagnies des guides de Chamonix et de Saint-Gervais, announced in mid-July the temporary suspension of ascents to Mont Blanc by the “normal” Gouter route due to rockfalls in the Gouter corridor, also known as “death gully”.

Access remains open only to independent guides.

Recent very high temperatures have destabilised the mountain, says Noe Verite, caretaker of the Cosmiques refuge, located on the Trois Monts route.

“We see the conditions deteriorating day by day,” he said.

– ‘Like fridges’ –

For him, July is usually the peak of the season, but the cancellations have been piling up.

The usual route is affected by large rocks “like fridges” falling, Verite said.

Currently, only between a dozen and 20 skilled mountaineers are able to reach the summit of Mont Blanc each day compared to 100-120 usually, says Olivier Grebert, president of the Compagnie des guides de Chamonix.

Cancelled races are postponed, reimbursed or redirected to other routes and the firm takes the opportunity to do a bit of education with those who, for example, want to climb the summit “for their 40th birthday”.

“This ascent must be part of a mountaineering career,” explains Grebert: “Mont Blanc sometimes has the reputation of being an easy ascent but it’s not the case, this year even more so.”

Tourism businesses in Indonesia’s Komodo National Park began a month-long strike on Monday after the government imposed a huge price hike.

Jakarta’s 18-fold rise for entry to the park’s most popular islands seeks to limit the number of visitors to protect endangered Komodo dragons — the world’s largest lizards — from overexposure to humans and environmental damage.

The move, which came into force Monday, raised admission fees to Komodo and Padar islands at the World Heritage-listed site in East Nusa Tenggara province from 200,000 rupiah ($13) to 3.75 million rupiah ($252).

But it sparked uproar among locals who rely on tourism, and industry-related businesses in the national park — still reeling from the Covid-19 pandemic — were closed on Monday in protest.

“We have no other option, we have conveyed all our rational opinions and arguments but the government didn’t listen,” said Servianus Setiawan, a tour operator in Labuan Bajo, the town that serves as the entrance to the park. 

“We support Komodo conservation but please come up with a sensible number so we can protect Komodo dragons and so people whose livelihood depends on tourism can live.”

East Nusa Tenggara Governor Viktor Laiskodat said the new price would be imposed despite the protest.

“We admit that we missed disseminating the information (about the price increase) properly. We will inform the people better while monitoring and evaluating the situation,” he told reporters Monday.

At least 700 workers will take part in the strike until the end of August, Servianus said.

Tour organiser Samin told AFP those refusing to join the strike had been threatened with “social sanctions”. 

One tourism association threatened to burn down businesses that remained open.

Locals said the drastic price hike would deter tourists with a limited budget from visiting the national park, which was almost deserted at the peak of the pandemic. 

“We are slowly recovering, if people cancel their reservations, we will fall apart again,” Matheus Siagian, a hotel and restaurant owner told AFP. 

“Please let us heal first.”

Komodo dragons are found only in the national park and neighbouring Flores island, and just 3,458 adult and baby Komodo dragons are left in the wild, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.

The largest fire in California this year is forcing thousands of people to evacuate as it destroys homes and rips through the state’s dry terrain, whipped up on Sunday by strong winds and lightning storms.

The McKinney Fire was zero percent contained as it burned in Klamath National Forest in northern California, CalFire said, spreading more than 51,000 acres near the city of Yreka.

It is the largest wildfire in California so far this year, with the state already battling several blazes this summer. 

California Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency Saturday, saying the fire had “destroyed homes” and “threatened critical infrastructure” after breaking out on Friday.

The fire was “intensified and spread by dry fuels, extreme drought conditions, high temperatures, winds and lightning storms,” Newsom said in a statement. 

More than 2,000 residents were under evacuation orders and some 200 under evacuation warnings, according to the California Office of Emergency Services (OES), mostly in Siskiyou County. 

“Surrounding areas should be ready to leave if needed. Please don’t hesitate to evacuate,” the Siskiyou County Sheriff tweeted. 

Highway 96 and McKinney Creed Road southwest of the Klamath River were closed to the public, CalFire said. 

Yreka resident Larry Castle told the Sacramento Bee newspaper that he and his wife had packed up a few possessions and their three dogs to leave the area for the night, as other fires in recent years had taught them the situation could turn “very, very serious.”

Nearly 650 people working to douse the blaze as of Sunday, the National Wildfire Coordinating Group said. 

Fire fighting forces were sent from nearby Oregon to assist in containment efforts, the Oregon State Fire Marshall said, as the Klamath National Forest also deals with the Kelsey Creek Fire. 

The record-breaking blaze sparked just days after the year’s previous largest fire raged in central California. 

The Oak Fire near Yosemite National Park broke out in mid-July and spread rapidly, destroying 41 buildings and forcing thousands to evacuate.

California, which is facing a punishing drought, still has months of fire season ahead of it.

In recent years, California and other parts of the western United States have been ravaged by huge and fast-moving wildfires, driven by a warming climate.

Kentucky’s governor predicted bodies will continue to be found “for weeks” as the death toll from devastating flooding rose Sunday to 28 and rescuers embarked on a long and grueling effort to locate victims.

Some areas in the mountainous region are still inaccessible following the flooding in the state’s east that turned roads into rivers, washed out bridges and swept away houses. Off-and-on rain plus poor cell phone service are also complicating rescue efforts.

“This is one of the most devastating, deadly floods that we have seen in our history… And at a time that we’re trying to dig out, it’s raining,” Governor Andy Beshear told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

“We’re going to work to go door to door, work to find, again, as many people as we can. We’re even going to work through the rain. But the weather is complicating it.”

The number of dead in the flooding, caused by torrential rain that began on Wednesday, is expected to rise even further.

“We’re going to be finding bodies for weeks, many of them swept hundreds of yards, maybe a quarter mile-plus from where they were lost,” Beshear said on “Meet the Press.”

The governor toured flooded areas and made stops in three counties on Sunday. Across the rain-soaked portions of the state, more than 350 people are living temporarily in shelters, he said. 

In the town of Jackson, the seat of hard-hit Breathitt County, state, local and federal rescue teams and aid workers fanned out. 

Some were distributing water bottles to those in need. A boat marked “FEMA Rescue 4” sat on a trailer, indicating the presence of federal emergency crews.

Receding floodwaters had left a thick coating of dust on the streets as dark clouds presaged more rain ahead.

Some 35 miles (55 kilometers) south in the tiny community of Buckhorn, volunteers at a distribution center told AFP that 700 to 800 people had come through on Sunday alone to collect donated supplies ranging from food to paper towels and toiletries.

The floods hit a region of Kentucky that was already suffering from grinding poverty — driven by the decline of the coal industry that was the heart of its economy — taking everything from people who could least afford it.

“It wiped out areas where people didn’t have that much to begin with,” Beshear said.

– Threat of more flooding –

Some areas in eastern Kentucky reported receiving more than eight inches (20 centimeters) of rain in a 24-hour period.

The water level of the North Fork of the Kentucky River at Whitesburg rose to a staggering 20 feet within hours, well above its previous record of 14.7 feet.

The National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center warned of the potential for flooding in a swath of the United States, including central and eastern Kentucky, into Monday.

“The threat of flash flooding will continue through the afternoon and early evening hours from showers and thunderstorms with very heavy rainfall rates,” it said in a forecast.

President Joe Biden has issued a disaster declaration for the Kentucky flooding, allowing federal aid to supplement state and local recovery efforts.

The eastern Kentucky flooding is the latest in a series of extreme weather events that scientists say are an unmistakable sign of climate change.

Nearly 60 people were killed in western Kentucky by a tornado in December 2021 — a disaster that Beshear said offered lessons for current efforts on the other end of the state.

“We learned a lot of lessons in western Kentucky on those devastating tornados about seven months ago, so we are providing as much support as we can and we are moving fast from all over the state to help out,” he told CNN on Saturday.

Nichelle Nichols, a groundbreaking Black actress who played communications officer Nyota Uhura with cool authority on the popular 1960s series “Star Trek,” has died at 89.

Her son, Kyle Johnson, announced the death on the official uhura.com website, saying, “Last night, my mother, Nichelle Nichols, succumbed to natural causes and passed away. Her light, however, like the ancient galaxies now being seen for the first time, will remain.”

A family spokesman said Nichols died in Silver City, New Mexico, where she had been living with her son.

Tributes poured in quickly, including from a long list of devoted “Trekkies.”

William Shatner, who played the USS Enterprise’s Captain James T. Kirk, sent his condolences to Nichols’ family.

“She was a beautiful woman & played an admirable character that did so much for redefining social issues both here in the US & throughout the world. I will certainly miss her.”  

George Takei, who as helmsman Sulu shared the bridge with Lieutenant Uhura, called her “trailblazing and incomparable.”

And US President Joe Biden said Nichols “redefined what is possible for Black Americans and women.” 

“Our nation is forever indebted to inspiring artists like Nichelle Nichols, who show us a future where unity, dignity, and respect are cornerstones of every society,” he said in a statement. 

Nichols made history with one of the first interracial kisses on US television — a 1968 embrace shared with Shatner (a kiss deemed worthy of a separate entry in Wikipedia).

Martin Luther King Jr. himself once praised Nichols, who broke ground with her powerful performance at a time when Black actors more often were cast as servants or criminals.

– ‘An equal role’ –

Nichols, who had trained in ballet and musical theater, at one point told “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry that she wanted to quit the show to return to the theater.

But when she mentioned that to King, in a chance meeting recounted by the Hollywood Reporter: “All the smile came off his face and he said, ‘You can’t do that. Don’t you understand, for the first time, we’re seen as we should be seen? You don’t have a Black role. You have an equal role.'”

She stayed.

Nichols worked as a recruiter for NASA — which reached out to her after she had criticized its lack of diversity — and successfully encouraged several talented African-Americans and women of all races to consider careers with the space agency. 

NASA paid tribute to her legacy in a tweet Sunday evening, calling her a “trailblazer and role model” who “symbolized to so many what was possible.”

The National Air and Space Museum also praised her work beyond the screen.

“She was an inspiration to many, not just for her groundbreaking work on Star Trek but also through her work with NASA to recruit women and people of color to apply to become astronauts,” the museum tweeted.

While best known as Uhura, Nichols had a varied career, dancing with Sammy Davis Jr. in “Porgy and Bess,” appearing on the NBC series “Heroes” and recording an album.  

She also played Uhura — a name taken from the Swahili for “freedom” — in the first six “Star Trek” movies.

The Smithsonian, the US national museum network, shared a picture on Twitter of the red space jacket Nichols wore as Uhura on screen, adorned with the iconic “Star Trek” pin, which is now on display at the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington.

Rescuers in Kentucky are taking the search effort door-to-door in worsening weather conditions as they brace for a long and grueling effort to locate victims of flooding that devastated the state’s east, the governor said Sunday.

Some areas in the mountainous region are still inaccessible following flooding that turned roads into rivers, washed out bridges, swept away houses and killed at least 28 people, according to state officials. Poor cell phone service is also complicating rescue efforts.

“This is one of the most devastating, deadly floods that we have seen in our history… And at a time that we’re trying to dig out, it’s raining,” Governor Andy Beshear told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

“We’re going to work to go door to door, work to find, again, as many people as we can. We’re even going to work through the rain. But the weather is complicating it,” Beshear said.

The number of dead in the flooding, caused by torrential rain that began on Wednesday, is expected to rise even further.

“We’re going to be finding bodies for weeks, many of them swept hundreds of yards, maybe a quarter mile-plus from where they were lost,” Beshear said on “Meet the Press.”

The governor toured flooded areas in three counties on Sunday. Across the rain-battered areas of the state, more than 350 people are living temporarily in shelters, he said. 

In the town of Jackson, seat of hard-hit Breathitt County, state, local and federal rescue teams and aid workers were gathering Sunday morning in a Walmart parking lot as they prepared to fan out. 

Some were distributing water bottles to those in need. A boat marked “FEMA Rescue 4” sat on a trailer, indicating the presence of federal emergency crews.

Receding floodwaters had left a thick coating of dust on the streets as an ominously dark cloud cover presaged more rain ahead. 

The floods hit a region of Kentucky that was already suffering from grinding poverty — driven by the decline of the coal industry that was the heart of its economy — taking everything from people who could least afford it.

“It wiped out areas where people didn’t have that much to begin with,” Beshear said.

– Threat of more flooding –

Some areas in eastern Kentucky had reported receiving more than eight inches (20 centimeters) of rain in a 24-hour period.

The water level of the North Fork of the Kentucky River at Whitesburg rose to a staggering 20 feet within hours, well above its previous record of 14.7 feet.

The National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center warned of the potential for flooding in a swath of the United States, including central and eastern Kentucky, into Monday.

“The threat of flash flooding will continue through the afternoon and early evening hours from showers and thunderstorms with very heavy rainfall rates,” it said in a forecast.

President Joe Biden has issued a disaster declaration for the Kentucky flooding, allowing federal aid to supplement state and local recovery efforts.

The eastern Kentucky flooding is the latest in a series of extreme weather events that scientists say are an unmistakable sign of climate change.

Nearly 60 people were killed in western Kentucky by a tornado in December 2021 — a disaster that Beshear said offered lessons for current efforts on the other end of the state.

“We learned a lot of lessons in western Kentucky on those devastating tornados about seven months ago, so we are providing as much support as we can and we are moving fast from all over the state to help out,” he told CNN on Saturday.

Portugal and France on Sunday battled major forest fires as temperatures rose sharply this weekend.

In Portugal, a blaze broke out in the Mafra area, north of Lisbon, while in France at least four firefighters were seriously injured and motorways were closed.

Around 400 firefighters were drafted in to fight the blaze around 40 kilometres (25 miles) north of Lisbon.

Residents tried to slow the advance of the flames by hosing their gardens, as the flames also swept through neighbouring forests, according to television images.

A retirement home housing 30 people was evacuated as a precautionary measure, Commander Paulo Santos of the Civil Protection Authority told Renascenca radio.

Elsewhere, other major outbreaks raged in northern and central Portugal, requiring over 1,000 firefighters.

In central Ourem, a river beach was also evacuated as a precaution, while two people suffered smoke inhalation, according to an emergency official quoted by the Lusa agency.

Parts of northern and central Portugal were placed on alert this weekend in the face of “steep temperature rises” to more than 40 degrees Celsius, (104 degrees Fahrenheit) expected to last until at least Tuesday, according to the meteorological institute.

Experts blame climate change for the soaring temperatures — and warn that worse is yet to come.

Portugal, which remains traumatised by the deadly fires of 2017 which killed more than 100 people, was also hit in early July by a series of fires fanned by scorching temperatures.

Since the beginning of the year, more than 58,000 hectares (143,000 acres) have gone up in smoke, according to the latest, still provisional, data from the Institute for the Conservation of Nature and Forests (ICNF).

New fires, meanwhile, broke out in southeastern France on Sunday, with 350 hectares burned in Gard where a firefighter was seriously injured, and 35 hectares near Marseille hit, causing the partial closures of motorways.

“Four firefighters are injured,” announced Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin in a tweet about the fire which broke out around 3:00 pm in a pine forest in the town of Aubais, south of Nimes.

One of them was “seriously injured” and had to be evacuated by helicopter to the Montpellier hospital centre for burns to the hands and face.

The others were more slightly injured following a reversal of the flames by the wind which partly destroyed their vehicle, Eric Agrinier, who coordinated the operations, told AFP.

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Rescuers in Kentucky are taking the search effort door-to-door in worsening weather conditions as they brace for a long and grueling effort to locate victims of flooding that devastated the state’s east, its governor said Sunday.

Some areas in the mountainous region are still inaccessible following flooding that turned roads into rivers, washed out bridges, swept away houses and killed at least 26 people. Poor cell phone service is also complicating rescue efforts.

“This is one of the most devastating, deadly floods that we have seen in our history… And at a time that we’re trying to dig out, it’s raining,” Governor Andy Beshear told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

“We’re going to work to go door to door, work to find, again, as many people as we can. We’re even going to work through the rain. But the weather is complicating it,” Beshear said.

The governor had earlier raised the death toll from the flooding, which was caused by torrential rain that began on Wednesday, to 26, tweeting that the number will rise further.

“We’re going to be finding bodies for weeks, many of them swept hundreds of yards, maybe a quarter mile-plus from where they were lost,” Beshear said on “Meet the Press.”

In the town of Jackson, county seat of hard-hit Breathitt County, state, local and federal rescue teams and aid workers were gathering Sunday morning in a Walmart parking lot as they prepared to fan out. 

Some were distributing water bottles to those in need. A boat marked “FEMA Rescue 4” sat on a trailer, indicating the presence of federal emergency crews.

Receding flood waters had left a thick coating of dust on the streets as an ominously dark cloud cover presaged more rain ahead. 

The floods hit a region of Kentucky that was already suffering from grinding poverty — driven by the decline of the coal industry that was the heart of its economy — taking everything from people who could least afford it.

“It wiped out areas where people didn’t have that much to begin with,” Beshear said.

– Threat of more flooding –

Some areas in eastern Kentucky had reported receiving more than eight inches (20 centimeters) of rain in a 24-hour period.

The water level of the North Fork of the Kentucky River at Whitesburg rose to a staggering 20 feet within hours, well above its previous record of 14.7 feet.

The National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center warned Sunday of the potential for flooding in a swath of the United States, including central and eastern Kentucky.

“The threat of flash flooding will be increasing through the day as heavy showers and thunderstorms develop and expand in coverage,” it said on Twitter.

President Joe Biden has issued a disaster declaration for the Kentucky flooding, allowing federal aid to supplement state and local recovery efforts.

The eastern Kentucky flooding is the latest in a series of extreme weather events that scientists say are an unmistakable sign of climate change.

Nearly 60 people were killed in western Kentucky by a tornado in December 2021 — a disaster that Beshear said offered lessons for current efforts on the other end of the state.

“We learned a lot of lessons in western Kentucky on those devastating tornados about seven months ago, so we are providing as much support as we can and we are moving fast from all over the state to help out,” he told CNN on Saturday.

Rescuers in Kentucky are taking the search effort door-to-door in worsening weather conditions as they brace for a long and grueling effort to locate victims of flooding that devastated the state’s east, its governor said Sunday.

Some areas in the mountainous region are still inaccessible following flooding that turned roads into rivers, washed out bridges, swept away houses and killed at least 26 people. Poor cell phone service is also complicating rescue efforts.

“This is one of the most devastating, deadly floods that we have seen in our history… And at a time that we’re trying to dig out, it’s raining,” Governor Andy Beshear told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

“We’re going to work to go door to door, work to find, again, as many people as we can. We’re even going to work through the rain. But the weather is complicating it,” Beshear said.

The governor had earlier raised the death toll from the flooding, which was caused by torrential rain that began on Wednesday, to 26, tweeting that the number will rise further.

“We’re going to be finding bodies for weeks, many of them swept hundreds of yards, maybe a quarter mile-plus from where they were lost,” Beshear said on “Meet the Press.”

The flash floods hit a region of the state that was already suffering from grinding poverty — driven by the decline of the coal industry that was the heart of its economy — taking everything from people who could least afford it.

“It wiped out areas where people didn’t have that much to begin with,” Beshear said.

– Threat of more flooding –

Some areas in eastern Kentucky had reported receiving more than eight inches (20 centimeters) of rain in a 24-hour period.

The water level of the North Fork of the Kentucky River at Whitesburg rose to a staggering 20 feet within hours, well above its previous record of 14.7 feet.

The National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center warned Sunday of the potential for flooding in a swath of the United States, including central and eastern Kentucky.

“The threat of flash flooding will be increasing through the day as heavy showers and thunderstorms develop and expand in coverage,” it said on Twitter.

President Joe Biden has issued a disaster declaration for the Kentucky flooding, allowing federal aid to supplement state and local recovery efforts.

The eastern Kentucky flooding is the latest in a series of extreme weather events that scientists say are an unmistakable sign of climate change.

Nearly 60 people were killed in western Kentucky by a tornado in December 2021 — a disaster that Beshear said offered lessons for current efforts on the other end of the state.

“We learned a lot of lessons in western Kentucky on those devastating tornados about seven months ago, so we are providing as much support as we can and we are moving fast from all over the state to help out,” he told CNN on Saturday.

Rocks the size of fridges have been tumbling from Mont Blanc as summer temperatures soar, scaring away many hikers from Western Europe’s highest mountain.

The heatwaves and drought-like conditions that have recently scorched much of the continent have exposed giant cracks and triggered rockfall, making the ascent to the summit more difficult and dangerous.

None of the seven paths leading to the top of the mountain, which dominates the Alps at 4,807 metres (15,771 feet) tall, is officially closed.

But conditions have deteriorated so much that only the most experienced climbers are able to reach it in late July, according to experts.

A lack of snow during winter has left glaciers at high altitude exposed and riddled with cracks, with large sections acquiring a grey or yellow tinge caused by the accumulation of sand particles from the Sahara.

Heat has done the rest of the damage, melting the fragile blankets of snow that made crossing crevasses feasible and sending gigantic boulders crashing down slopes.

– ‘Definitely global warming’ –

In the southern French resort town of Chamonix, which lies by the foothills of Mont Blanc, the tourist season is in full swing.

Visitors travel in their thousands every day to reach the summit, the Aiguille du Midi, thanks to a cable car.

But relatively few head to a small cave carved into the ice that acts as a changing room and starting point for mountaineers preparing for their high-altitude trek to Mont Blanc or across the Vallee Blanche glacier.

Among the intrepid explorers were Evan Warden and his 14-year-old son David, who came from Scotland to tackle the glacier below the Aiguille du Midi — only to find the conditions “awful”.

“Everywhere we walked there was just constant rockfall and the crevasses constantly open up,” said David, who was visiting the Alps for the first time.

The pair scrapped plans to climb Mont Blanc via the “Trois Monts” route because the trip became too risky, explained Evan, who hopes to return next year.

“I’ve not seen this much rockfall here in a long time, that’s global warming definitely,” he said.

Norwegian couple Monica and Marten Antheun had waited three years to climb the mythical mountain. But the guided walk they reserved was cancelled owing to the unsafe conditions.

“The guides know the area and they know the conditions. That’s fine for us — we can do it later,” said a philosophical Monica.

– Rocks ‘as large as fridges’ –

Guide companies in Chamonix and nearby Saint-Gervais suspended climbs up Mont Blanc via the popular “Gouter” pass in mid-July due to potentially lethal rockfall crashing down what is known as “the pass of death”.

The sweltering temperatures of recent weeks have destabilised the mountain, according to Noe Verite, a warden at a shelter on the “Trois Monts” path.

He said the mercury at his post — perched at the dizzying height of 3,613 metres — recently reached six degrees Celsius (43 degrees Fahrenheit) in the middle of the night. 

That prevented any ice from freezing over again and forced climbers using that route to turn back, he told AFP.

July is usually peak tourist season for Verite, but cancellations have piled up amid worsening weather conditions.

Rocks “as large as fridges” have battered the usual route to the peak, and only a hardcore group of climbing enthusiasts dare to take other paths such as “l’Innominata” due to their difficulty, he said.

Olivier Grebert, president of the Chamonix Guides Company, said only around a dozen people, mainly specialists, are making it to Mont Blanc’s summit, whereas up to 120 do so in normal times.

Cancelled bookings are postponed, refunded or reworked to other paths and the company has used the disruption to educate those who unwisely see climbing the mountain as an entertaining way of celebrating their 40th birthday.

“This ascent should be part of a climber’s career. Mont Blanc sometimes has a reputation of being an easy climb, but that’s not the case, especially this year,” said Grebert.