The Alpine trails in Europe lead to some of the most beautiful peaks on the continent and are some of the most popular trekking routes in the world.
Wanderers and hikers travel these normally-safe routes during the summer around this time of year. However, the routes are now too dangerous to travel due to thawing permafrost, falling rocks from strangely dry weather, woodland forest, and melting glaciers.
In the meantime, publications that typically transport thousands of tourists annually to Europe’s highest peaks have decided not to use certain routes to climb Mont Blanc.
Due to possible drought-related rockfalls, authorities in the French Alps have shut down two popular mountain shelters used by Mont Blanc climbers. Rockfalls and wide crevices have made climbing Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in western Europe, even more difficult and risky in a year marked by drought and heat waves.
