Mountain Clients

In July, 1964, five UIAGM, Chamonix Guides took nine aspirant guides (ENSA mountain clients) under instruction, into slab-avalanche conditions high on the Aigulle Verte above the French alpine resort of Chamonix. In the ensuing avalanche, all fourteen were swept down the Cordier Coulior to their deaths… In the intervening years (to 2008) the UIAGM has been irradicating experienced mountaineers with the correct attitude from the professional climbing scene – because they supposedly, did not come up to UIAGM/IFMGA standards – and just what are those modern-day standards?…  January, 2011, and already two British mountain clients have been killed in avoidable avalanches in the French Alps alone, their ‘qualified’ guides of course – survived.