Climber dies on Mont Blanc

A BRITISH climber has died on Mont Blanc after falling 600ft, the Foreign Office said yesterday.

James Smitherman, 22, from Crowthorne, Berkshire, was descending a couloir with two friends on Monday when the accident happened in a known danger spot. He died in the fall and his body was airlifted to St Gervais.

French police said he was wearing a helmet but hit his head below the rim. His death comes eight days after Dr Stephen Caswell, a British geology lecturer, died on the mountain after falling into a crevasse with his wife and step- son. They survived.