The mayor of a French mountaineering town: Moto is at your expense

Mountaineers trying to reach the summit of Mont Blanc in France will have to pay €15,000 to cover the costs of needing rescue, or worse, dying.

Saint Gervais Mayor Jean-Marc Belleix, where climbers can reach the summit of Western Europe's highest peak via a route called Gutter, imposed the measure in response to dozens of defiant warnings and engaging in what he described as "Russian roulette".

In the details of the new condition, 10,000 euros will cover the cost of the rescue and 5,000 euros for the funeral in the event of death.

Local guides suspended operations along the route, which can be accessed by climbers of any skill level, in mid-July due to the severe avalanche of rocks, with the local administration strongly advised people to avoid it.

The prolonged intense heat wave also made conditions on the mountain even more dangerous.

In a statement posted to Twitter, Bilix said dozens of "false mountaineers" had ignored the warnings.

He described how five Romanian visitors attempted to climb "in shorts, trainers and straw hats" and had to turn them back by mountain police.

"People want to climb with death in their backpacks," he added.

"So let's anticipate the cost of having to rescue and bury them, because it is unacceptable for French taxpayers to foot the bill."

The summit can also be reached by taking a path called Rati from Courmayeur, on the Italian side of Mont-Blac, although it is less used.

However, Roberto Rota, the mayor of Courmayeur, said he had no plans to restrict access.

"The mountain is not property," he said.

"We, as officials, can limit ourselves to reporting suboptimal conditions along the routes, but asking for a deposit to get to the top is really fanciful."

The debate over the safety of mountain activities has escalated this summer amid a heat wave and since 11 people were killed when a huge mass of ice broke off a glacier on the north side of Marmolada, the highest peak in the Italian Dolomites, in early July.

Last Thursday, a road to Monte Cervino from the Italian side was temporarily closed after 13 climbers were rescued in a landslide, and more than 100 people have died on the Gutierre route over the past 20 years, according to the Guardian.

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