Mont Dolent Tragedy Update July 26, 2008: Family Identified and More Information

The family members involved in the horrific climbing accident on Mont Dolent have been identified. All four family members were from Almere, in Northern Holland and include the father, Pieter Hendrik Germs (55), his son, Mark Pieter Germs (20), and two daughters-Else Germs (23) and Karin Germs (16). The mother, Ada de Jong (50), survived the incident after she had stopped to rest and the others climbed on.

From the Mail Online’s world news:

Mrs De Jong said: ‘I saw my husband fall, then all of my three children, one by one they all fell. I was watching 200metres away (600feet).’

Ada de Jong described that one of her family members had tripped and fallen, as she looked on, pulling the rest down with them. The four deceased family members fell 1,600 ft. from the Normal Route on Mont Dolent. The family members had been roped together and climbing a steep glacier slope above col 3558 when the accident occured.  The family had previously made a successful summit of the 12,500 ft. peak and were on their descent at the time of the accident.

Rescue officials have pointed out that the root cause of the incident is that the four were strategically roped together. Essentially, it became like a domino effect when the first person fell. The other family members couldn’t support the weight and went down with them. It is thought that Pieter, the father, was the one who initially tripped, then dragged the rest down with him.

Last week three french climbers in the same area, who were also roped together, suffered the same type of incident.  The french climbers were not killed, but did suffer severe injuries.  Many in the area of Mont Dolent, part of the Mont Blanc massif, refer to this area as the “climber’s graveyard”.

A poster in the Ukclimbing.com forums has mentioned that this incident is being looked upon as a freak accident, with no one to blame. He also explains quite a bit about the terrain where this accident took place, as well as weather details and quotes from rescue personel.

It is also being noted that all family members had prior climbing experience and that the accident is not being attributed to persons unknowledgable in that area.

From the UkClimbing Forum:

Weather yesterday was ok, and according to all reports, the four victims were fit, experienced, acclimatized and well equipped. Actually Laura, the manager of the “Grandes Jorasses” campsite at Planpincieux, told she had been impressed by the group attention of scheduling climbs according to fitness and acclimatization, where plenty of others are far more casual in the approach to these things.

This is definitely a horrific incident and one that will be looked upon further in the days ahead.  Let’s keep Ada de Jong in our thoughts and prayers.  If anything new is reported, I will make another update.  You may be interested in reading my original report of this incident posted on Thursday.  This news is still not being widely published in the American newspapers, but is starting to make some waves in the international media.

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