The seracs of the Mont Blanc Tacul are constantly falling. Even though the timing of serac fall is completely unpredictable, it was (and still is) obvious that the seracs of Mont Blanc du Tacul could one day come crashing down in a massive avalanche. The only question is when. Yesterday, the timing could not have been worse – August at 3:a.m. – a time when many climbers doing the 3 Monts Traverse of Mont Blanc were directly underneath. 47 climbers were on their way up the Mont Blanc du Tacul enroute to the summit of Mont Blanc when the seracs fell in an avalanche 500m long and 150m wide. 4 German climbers, 1 Austrian mountain guide and 3 Swiss climbers (including 1 Swiss mountain guide) are reported missing and presumed dead. Although this is the most tragic event in the Mont Blanc massif in over ten years, this number could have been a lot higher. A similar accident occurred in 1974 also killing 8 people (windslab avalanche). In 1994 a serac fall on the Petit Plateau on the Grands Mulets route up the Mont Blanc killed 9 climbers. Nowadays, the number of climbers on the Mont Blanc du Tacul on any given "nice weather" day has skyrocketed. This kind of immense serac fall could easily have buried everyone and sometimes more than one hundred people could be spending the little more than an hour in the seracs path. There are often queues to cross the trickier sections (rimayes) increasing the time a climber spends in danger. Yesterday, many climbers escaped the main trajectory of the serac fall. Five extremely lucky climbers were actually caught in the avalanche and bulldozed down the mountain, but survived with cuts, bruises, and fractures. In total, only seven climbers were treated at Chamonix and Sallanches hospitals for injuries sustained. All but two were even discharged yesterday afternoon. One survivor explained that the avalanche was surprising silent. Someone yelled out “Avalanche, plantez vos piolets” (Avalanche – Dig in your ice axes) and then the avalanche hit them. The PGHM in Chamonix were called at 3:15 in the morning and launched a massive Franco-Italian rescue effort with 40 people and 4 helicopters from France and Italy. The rescue was halted midafternoon because the risk of a windslab avalanche in that area was too great, and 8 missing climbers were presumed dead. Some of their climbing equipment has been found, which helped authorities establish their identity. Since the area is still menaced by serac fall, the PGHM cannot risk their lives searching for the bodies of the victims. If the snow melts, then perhaps the bodies will resurface and the PGHM will relaunch the search. Mont Blanc du Tacul was off limits to climbers during the rescue operation on Sunday, but Monday the ban was lifted. While accidents like this tend to generate some calls for bans on "dangerous" mountains and itineraries, fortunately the mountains remain open for all to climb - at their own risk.
