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In Chamonix , France , gateway to the Alps and a mountaineering mecca , ice climbers in the 2001 Ice World Cup ascended not nearby peaks but an elaborate ice-covered structure erected in the middle of town . During the Austro-Hungarian war between 40-80 ,000 were deliberately killed by orchestrated avalanches ; in Chamonix , town planners typically plonked the cheaper suburbs slapbang in avalanche paths . We were in Chamonix this year , looking in the window of an outdoor shop at the sexy Black Diamond ice screws , when a big American and his girlfriend stopped beside us .