It's been a rough month in the mountains. First we had the events on K2 to start the month off, and over the weekend we had 8 lives claimed in an avalanche on Mount Blanc.
The massive avalanche hit early Sunday morning, sweeping five Austrian and three Swiss climbers off the mountain, while a number of others were buried under the wall of snow. Rescue teams were on the scene very quickly, and eight climbers were dug out of the snow, but the eight that remain missing are now believed to be dead. Despite the losses though, officials believe that dozens more could have been killed in the accident.
The 4810 meter (15,781 feet) Mount Blanc lies on the border of France and Italy and is the tallest mountain in the Alps, and all of Western Europe for that matter. It is considered one of the classic climbs on the European continent, and thousands flock to the mountain each year to climb, ski, or trek it's trails.
As I said, it's been a rough few weeks in the mountains, and even though Mount Blanc is half a world away from K2, the mountaineering community is a tightly knit group. My condolences go out to the friends and families of these missing climbers.
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