A French mayor wants those who are brave enough to climb Mont Blanc to pay a £13,000 rescue and funeral deposit before tackling it because of how dangerous it is.
Jean-Marc Peillex, who is mayor of Saint-Gervais, a village at the foot of the mountain, has said he's been left exacerbated with the "contempt" of mountain climbers.
It's hoped that the €15,000 - equivalent to around £12,600 - will put off unqualified climbers who are gambling with their lives, as well as stopping what he described as "pseudo climbers" who insist on climbing the mountain "with death in their backpacks".
He says the average cost of a rescue on Western Europe's highest mountain was €10,000 while funeral costs were €5,000.
Mont Blanc's summit is an imposing 15,774ft, and Pelliex says many have ignored warnings about tackling it, with the recent heatwave increasing the number of rockfalls.
The Mayor told the BBC : "I wanted to make people react, to understand that today it's very dangerous, almost suicidal to go up."
He has currently closed the mountain refuges at Goûter and Tête Rousse because of rockfalls until further notice, and hasn't yet issued a legal ruling on the deposit.
However, he has the power to impose it, adding that "if anyone thinks it's illegal they can go to court to challenge it".
In a statement on the village website, he added that a group of Romanian hikers who were wearing socks and trainers were told to turn back by a police helicopter on July 30, CNN reports.
They ordered the group to stand down over a megaphone, but they reportedly said they would "return the next day" anyway despite the pleas.
It's been reported that a lack of winter snow, coupled with the searing heat this summer, has destablised rocks and made hiking there more difficult and dangerous.
Climate change has also attributed to and heightened the risk of avalanches in the Alps as glaciers melt.
An expert guide, as quoted by the AFP news agency, said only 12 to 20 skilled mountaineers were able to reach the summit each day, down from the usual 100-120.
Thousands of tourists normally visit the 11 peaks in France and Italy each year and, despite the closure of Goûter and Tête Rousse, others remain open.
