Scott P wrote:Here's what I'm able to find on total Mt. Blanc deaths: Alan Arnette(1) pegs it at 1,400, Adventure Journal (2)estimates 6-8k, the Atlantic (3) cites 100 deaths a year. Last year 22 people perished in less than the span of a week, in 2008 68 climbers died, 30 in a single month in 2007 (4).
I believe that 1400 is for the region, rather than the mountain itself (or even the Massif). There was a big debate a couple years ago, starting on SP, but expanding to other sites concerning the world's most dangerous mountain. After much debate we decided to email the rescue services themselves (the contacts are still on the thread I believe). The best they could come up with is just over 1000 deaths for the Mt Blanc
Massif and more than 1300 for the
region. Given this was a few years ago, the 1400 is probably close.
One thing to keep in mind however, that even with the figure of 1000+ for the Mont Blanc Massif, the Mont Blanc Massif is huge and covers many peaks, while the Matterhorn is a singular peak.
This is the Mont Blanc Massif:
Your 68 deaths figure in 2008, for example, is for the entire Massif and even then the deaths will add up to just over 1000, at least according to the mountain rescue services.
Of course, emailing Alan Arnette and seeing where he got the 1400 figure would be useful (he is a 14ers.com and SP member and I've done a few climbs with him, so I bet he'd be happy to provide some insight).
The Atlantic and Adventure journals are obviously far fetched.
One thing to also keep in mind for both the Matterhorn and Blanc figures, they include other deaths rather than just climbers. They also include skiers on the lower slopes, tourists, etc.
Matterhorn is, by any measure, far from being "responsible for more deaths than any other mountain in the world".
This I agree with (actually I also agree that the Mont Blanc Massif has killed more than the Matterhorn).
Tambora was responsible for over 90,000 deaths. Krakatau over 36,000. More recently (1985), Ruiz killed more than 23,000.
Except for Huascarán (which has killed 10's of thousands), all of the mountains responsible for the most deaths are volcanoes.
*PS, I am posting all this not to argue or to prove anything, but because I am very interested in mountain history and statistics, even if this part of mountaineering history is somewhat morbid. I hope no one is offended by the discussion.