A mayor is to file a criminal lawsuit against an American father who took his children up Europe’s highest mountain in the hope of a mention in the Guinness Book of Records.
Jean-Marc Peillex, the mayor of Saint-Gervais in the French Alps, announced his intention to take legal action after seeing video footage of Patrick Sweeney’s bid to climb Mont Blanc with Paul Junior, Sweeney’s nine year-old son, and Shannon, his 11 year-old daughter.
Mr Peillex said the attempt highlighted the tendency of amateur climbers to treat Mont Blanc like an adventure park.
The ascension almost ended in disaster when the children were swept down the mountainside by an avalanche before being rescued by other climbers.
Mr Sweeney, from Keene, New Hampshire, who describes