The tragic accident occurred on Sunday, the 3rd January 2016 is of particular concern as the normal route of the Petite Aiguille Verte is a very popular with debutant mountaineers, particularly in winter.
The telepherique to the summit of Les Grands Montets makes La Petite Aiguille Verte very accessible and the route is perfect for someone seeking a safe but challenging experience of high altitude mountaineering with some exposure.
The Lithuanian Alpine Association (LAA) has published the names and ages of the three climbers on the Association's Facebook.
Also, they have identified which climbers died as a result of the avalanche.
As usual, Summit Post provides excellent data on La Petite Aiguille Verte , though the map pointer targets the summit of Les Grands Montets and not the summit of La Petite Aiguille Verte.
CONFLICTING, UNRELIABLE AND LIMITED INFORMATION
There appears to be conflicting evidence concerning the experience levels of the climbers, though the LAA reports at least one climber was an experienced LAA member.
The incident has been widely reported as taking place at 10am on 3 Jan 2016.
There is no indication that there were other climbers on the route.
The three Lithuanians may have been breaking trail through the recent snowfall.
The avalanche is widely reported to have taken place at an altitude of 3200m. This does not make sense as the climb starts at 3200m.
The LAA report that the climbers had crossed the bergschrund. They might have been traversing the subsequent north-west facing snow slope at about 3375m when the avalanche occurred. It is not impossible that the climbers might have started the avalanche themselves.
Some media outlets have reported that avalanche was triggered as a result of an icefall. This is unlikely as there are no seracs or other ice features on a fall-line above La Petite Aiguille Verte. The petite's big sister La Aiguille Verte at 4122m does have huge and over-hanging ice features which fall regularly and do trigger avalanches on the snow slopes below. The three Lithuanians were ascending the normal route up the Petite Aiguille Verte and this is not exposed to the huge ice features of La Aiguille Verte.
The Chamonix PGHM is investigating the accident. There are several lines of enquiry, that might include:
1. The condition of the route
2. The cause of the avalanche
3. The experience of the climbers
4. The climbers equipment
5. The rope connections between the climbers
Much might be learned from this tragedy, so that future generations continue to climb safely on La Petite Aiguille Verte.
