Tom Rankin
Well-known member
SAINT-GERVAIS MONT-BLANC, France (Reuters) - Europe's tallest mountain is dirty and overcrowded, according to a French mayor who has ignited controversy with a proposal to limit the number of climbers on Mont Blanc.
Jean-Marc Peillex, mayor of the Alpine village Saint-Gervais Mont-Blanc, estimated that up to 30,000 people climb the 4,810 metre (15,780 foot) mountain each summer, overwhelming overnight refuges and polluting glaciers with garbage and human waste.
"It's intolerable," he told a packed public meeting in Saint-Gervais this weekend, recounting how on a recent survey of Mont Blanc his helicopter landed on a glacier strewn with frozen excrement, the ice stained yellow from urine.
"The problem is that many people think that a garbage truck and a street cleaner will pass the next day."
He said requiring permits to access the Voie Royale path starting at Saint-Gervais -- the most popular Mont Blanc ascent because it is easier than routes in France's Chamonix or Italy -- could ensure mountain refuges are not filled beyond their capacity, and alert amateur hikers to the demands of the climb.
Full story:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060925...MCZIVr7xb7tiBIF;_ylu=X3oDMTA0cDJlYmhvBHNlYwM-
Jean-Marc Peillex, mayor of the Alpine village Saint-Gervais Mont-Blanc, estimated that up to 30,000 people climb the 4,810 metre (15,780 foot) mountain each summer, overwhelming overnight refuges and polluting glaciers with garbage and human waste.
"It's intolerable," he told a packed public meeting in Saint-Gervais this weekend, recounting how on a recent survey of Mont Blanc his helicopter landed on a glacier strewn with frozen excrement, the ice stained yellow from urine.
"The problem is that many people think that a garbage truck and a street cleaner will pass the next day."
He said requiring permits to access the Voie Royale path starting at Saint-Gervais -- the most popular Mont Blanc ascent because it is easier than routes in France's Chamonix or Italy -- could ensure mountain refuges are not filled beyond their capacity, and alert amateur hikers to the demands of the climb.
Full story:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060925...MCZIVr7xb7tiBIF;_ylu=X3oDMTA0cDJlYmhvBHNlYwM-
