In reply to UKC/UKH News:
"Do you think a permit system for climbing Mont Blanc would work (and if so, do you think it goes against the ethics of European mountaineering)?"
"In all the important sites of the world there are systems of quotas and controls (North American national parks, Nepal, Kilimanjaro, Everest ... gorges of the Ardèche, creeks of Cassis). There are also planes, museums...why should an overcrowded route escape this, and who is having trouble controlling it?"
I think this kind of thing is inevitable. While it does 'go against the ethics of European mountaineering', you could say much the same about the cable cars that make the area so accessible. We live in an overcrowded world, and increasing numbers of people will want to spend their well earned leisure time on experiences like climbing Mont Blanc - whatever the rest of us might think of that experience. We can't just stick our heads in the sand and pretend that it's the 19th century. The golden age of mountaineering is over.