On 19 November 2019, Jean-Marc Peillex, the mayor of Saint-Gervais, received a letter signed by the president of France, Emmanuel Macron, concerning the overcrowding of the Mont-Blanc massif.
As a reminder, Jean-Marc Peillex is known for his long and tough fight done to protect the Mont-Blanc massif and has sent an open letter to President Macron in September 2019, urging him to take measures against "wackos" climbing Mont-Blanc.
Many inconsiderate attempts to conquer Mont-Blanc have happened in the summer of 2019.
Among them, a Russian mountaineer wanted to climb the Mont-Blanc summit with his 7-years-old son, despite the frail age of the son, the atrocious weather at the time and the fact that he had no reservation in a shelter.
Another tourist made the ascent with his dog, despite having been warned against it by the police who patrol the Mont-Blanc massif; In June 2019, two Swiss climbers illegally landed a plane near the Mont-Blanc summit.
But what prompted mayor Jean-Mark Peillex to write an open letter to President Emmanuel Macron were the actions of a British tourist who attempted to climb Mont-Blanc with a rowing machine, but, because of fatigue and bad weather, had to abandon the machine in the mountains.
President Macron answers to Jean-Marc Peillex
In this letter dated November 18, Emmanuel Macron reassures the mayor that he wants to better protect the roof of Europe from the high tourist influx during the summer season.
"I wanted this issue to be addressed at the Ecological Defense Council on November 7, 2019. [...] I decided to mandate Ms Elisabeth Borne, Minister for the Ecological and Solidarity Transition [...] to deal with the issue and to quickly provide concrete answers to your expectations," writes President Macron.
Emmanuel Macron announces that the subject will be on the agenda of the interdepartmental committee of the mountain, which will be held on 22 November 2019.
Thus, on 19 November Jean-Marc Peillex met Emmanuelle Wargon, Secretary of State to the Minister of Ecological Transition and Solidarity.
The classification of Mont Blanc as a national nature reserve, the creation of a large site operation with coercive means or the strengthening of controls are all measures to be considered and discussed.
