suggests there had been 6,000 to 8,000 alpinist fatalities in total, more than on any other mountain. These numbers exclude the fatalities of Air India Flight 245 and Air India Flight 101, two planes that crashed into Mont Blanc. Despite unsubstantiated claims recurring in media that "some estimates put the fatality rate at an average of 100 hikers a year", actual reported annual numbers at least since the 1990s are between 10 and 20: in 2017, fourteen people died out of 20,000 summit attempts, and two remained missing; with 15 in 2018 as of August. A French study on the especially risky "Goûter couloir, on the normal route on Mont Blanc" and necessary rescue operations found that, between 1990 and 2011, there were 74 deaths "between the Tête Rousse refuge (3,187 m) and the Goûter refuge (3,830 m)". There were 17 more in 2012–15, none in 2016, and 11 in 2017. Refuges Refuge Vallot, 4362 m Bivouac Giuseppe Lampugnani, 3860 m Bivouac Marco Crippa, 3840 m Refuge Goûter, 3817 m Bivouac Corrado Alberico – Luigi Borgna, 3684 m Refuge Cosmiques, 3613 m Refuge Tête Rousse, 3167 m Refuge Francesco Gonella, 3071 m Refuge Grands Mulets, 3050 m Impacts of climate change The recent temperature rises and heatwaves, such as those of the summers of 2015 and 2018, have significantly impacted many climbing routes across the Alps, including those on Mont Blanc. For example, in 2015, the Grand Mulets route, previously popular in the 20th century, was blocked by virtually impenetrable crevasse fields, and the Gouter Hut was closed by municipal decree for some days because of a very high rockfall danger, with some stranded climbers evacuated by helicopter. In 2016 a crevasse opened at high altitude, also indicating previously unobserved glacial movements. The new crevasse forms an obstacle to be scaled by climbing parties on the final part of the itinerary to the top shared by the popular Goûter Route and the Grand Mulets Route. Exploits and incidents 1950: Air India Flight 245 crashes into Mont Blanc. 1966: Air India Flight 101 crashes into Mont Blanc. 11 July 2013: Kilian Jornet beat the fastest overall time for ascent and descent with 4 hours, 57 minutes and 40 seconds. 21 June 2018: Emelie Forsberg set a women's fastest known time up and down from Chamonix with 7 hours 53 minutes and 12 seconds, improving her previous record of 8 hours 10