Grand Couloir (Mont Blanc)

The Grand Couloir is a couloir on the Aiguille du Goûter. At 3,340 m altitude this gully has to be traversed on foot, to reach the scramble beyond the Tête Rousse Hut (3167 m) up to the Goûter Refuge (3835 m) on the Goûter Route on Mont Blanc .

Accidents

This area is a well-known accident black spot in dry conditions, when there is little or no snow on the face binding the loose surface rocks together. Stonefall can be channelled down the gully to present a serious hazard to climbers crossing in between the relative safety of the sides. For this reputation this passage is sometimes even dubbed the "couloir de la mort", "corridor of death" or "gully of death". To this is eagerly referred by the press in more or less sensationalist reports on accidents that frequently happen at or around this spot during the summer climbing season[1][2][3][4][5][6] Especially the place of the traverse is a site of many fatal accidents and numerous narrow escapes on the popular Goûter Route. The risky crossing has even been dramatically compared with Russian roulette.[7]

This formed one of the main reasons for the permit system regulation introduced in 2019, which limited the daily number of climbers allowed.[8][9][10][11]

Looking down the Grand Couloir from the Aiguille de Goûter towards the Tête Rousse glacier

A study describing the situation as "The Gouter Problem" mentions that 75% of the rockfalls at the spot occur between 10 am and 4 pm, with on average one event of rock fall every 17 minutes between 11 am and 12 am.[12]

The route up to the Aiguille du Goûter beyond the Grand Couloir


From 1990 to 2011, the French mountain police force registers show 291 rescue operations in the Goûter couloir, which resulted in 74 deaths and 180 injuries[13] and from 1990 to 2017 347 rescue operations here, related to accidents which resulted in 102 deaths and 230 injuries.[14][15]

During the extremely hot summer of 2015, the Goûter Hut was even temporarily closed on prefectural order to dissuade climbers from taking this route.

Accident prevention

Since 2009, the Petzl Foundation financed an accident prevention study project focussing mainly on this spot. The company also published a leaflet to inform climbers.[16] [17][18] The local geomorphological conditions became subject of study of several geotechnical experts.[19] After the season of 2017, also the suggestion of a complete removal of the metal cables was considered, which would offer inexperienced climbers "false security".[20]

Since the climbing season of 2019, to improve safety, the itinerary up and down the Goûter ridge is provided with a luminescent marking, dividing between separate up (ascent) and down (descent) routes.

References
  1. Mont Blanc plan to scare novice climbers from corridor of death
  2. Saturday 21 September 2013: Tragedy on the Gouter Route to Mont-Blanc: a 30-year-old British climber lost his balance and fell to his dead
  3. Briton dies in fall near summit of Mont Blanc – A Briton has plunged 1000ft to his death in the French Alps after scaling Mont Blanc on a section dubbed "the corridor of death"
  4. Climbers and guide die in latest Mont Blanc tragedy
  5. La hausse des températures rend le "couloir de la mort" de plus en plus impraticable – Chaque année, 17 000 alpinistes lancés à la conquête du mont Blanc empruntent le couloir du Goûter. Mais avec la hausse des températures, les blocs de pierre y sont de plus en plus mal retenus par le gel
  6. A close call with a rockfall on Mont Blanc
  7. LO SCANDALO DEL CANALONE DEL GOÛTER, LA ROULETTE RUSSA SUL MONTE BIANCO
  8. «Des miracles, il y en a tous les jours au Mont-Blanc»
  9. Dans le massif du mont Blanc, les guides tentent d'"éduquer" les touristes – Une bonne partie des 25 000 personnes qui tentent chaque été le sommet sont mal préparées
  10. How to Climb Mont Blanc
  11. Mont Blanc plan to scare novice climbers from corridor of death
  12. Blaise Agresti – The Gouter Problem on Mont Blanc
  13. Fatality on Goûter Route!
  14. Climbing Mont Blanc: 10 reasons to think twice
  15. Why Is Mont Blanc One of the World's Deadliest Mountains? – Over-eager guides and casual tourists crowd France's Mont Blanc, which has highest fatality rate in Europe
  16. Sicher auf den Mont Blanc
  17. Mont Blanc: how can we reduce accidents in the Goûter couloir?
  18. Accidentology of the normal route up Mont Blanc between 1990 and 2017
  19. Rockfalls in the Grand Couloir du Goûter (Mont-Blanc massif) : An interdisciplinary monitoring system
  20. Vers la fin des câbles du Goûter?


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