Sms saves mountaineers on Mt Blanc

With the Alps summer season drawing in full swing, thousands of alpinists from around the world are in the High Alps attempting Europe’s highest mountains.

In the second half of August two British climbers who became stranded 3500 metres up western Europe's highest mountain Mont Blanc, avoided disaster after they were rescued as a result of texting a friend in their hometown of Shrewsbury.

Climbers Finn McCann and Tom Greenwood, both 23 but reportedly experienced mountaineers become trapped on the Italian side of Mont Blanc after a storm broke out.

McCann reportedto the Guardian after the rescue, “We were desperate, it was unbearably cold and we were risking hypothermia, stuck on a tiny ledge above a huge drop.”

To add to their troubles, four hours into the climb, Greenwood's left shoulder dislocated. It continued to work itself in and out and the men decided to try to reach the top of the mountain, but heavy rain then set in, forcing them to sit out the bad weather on the Aiguille Noire de Peuterey peak.

"We were worried about hypothermia and with two bars of battery between us we were really panicking," McCann noted.

After failing to contact the rescue services they decided to text a friend back in the UK.

The friend contacted the rescue services on their behalf and kept them updated on the progress made.

Two attempts to reach the pair were unsuccessful, but a helicopter managed to reach them during the third try and take them to the town of Courmayeur, at the bottom of the mountain.

Original Source article: Text message helps save Mont Blanc mountain climbers (BBC News)

Image: The Aiguille Noire de Peuterey (Wikipedia Commons)