France’s famed Mont Blanc has been declared a protected zone by French president Macron after local officials complained about both environmental danger and the weird antics of some visitors.
After incidents in the past year that included landing a plane near the summit, climbers with dogs (not allowed) and a British tourist who carried a rowing machine up the mountain and abandoned it there, the government is raising existing fines for irresponsible behavior on the mountain from €38 to between €750 and €1,500.
The protection zone will also ban heavy trucks from a number of areas around the mountain, whose glacier is melting at a worrying rate. Local authorities have already banned traditional open fires because of concern over increasing air pollution.
