Submitted by ChamonixNews on
Wednesday 23 August 2023 just before 11am local time, there was a massive rockfall on the north face of the Aiguille du Midi.
To be more precise, it was between the Frendo Spur and the Mallor-Porter route which are close to one another almost immediately below the Aiguille du Midi top station and summit.
The deafening noise and the thick cloud of dust generated by the rockfall were heard and seen throughout the Chamonix valley.
This mythical wall that hangs high over Chamonix seems to be crumbling more quickly in the very high temperatures recorded around Mont Blanc, including at high altitudes of over 3000 meters.
Check out the video on Facebook Reel
With extraordinary good fortune, it appears that on Wednesday morning, no-one was climbing routes on the North Face that no longer exist because of the fall, and there were no alpine hikers in the affected vicinity of close to the Aiguille du Midi mid-station.
That morning, no request for assistance in that zone, was made to the Chamonix High Mountain Gendarmerie Platoon (PGHM) and in the last 24 hours, no-one has been reported missing.
Unsurprisingly, it was not an uneventful day for the PGHM. In the afternoon they were called to intervene on another to another mythical north face. This was the Grandes Jorasses, where a team of mountaineers saw their rope severed by a stone fall, leaving them with insufficent rope to continue safely. The climbers were evacuated with no report of any injury.
While the temperatures remain high and the risk of rockfall, serac fall and avalanche are all very high, alpinists are urged to tread with great care, avoid exposed routes and wait for cooler weather.
Le Dauphiné contributed to this article
Also on Wednesday, there was another rockfall. This was on the west side of the Aiguille Verte. Check out the video.
