The news

The documentary of the award-winning first ascent of Yashkuk Sar in Pakistan, carried out by the American alpinists August Franzen, Dane Steadman and Cody Winckler from 19 - 23 September 2024.

On 6 and 7 January 2026 French alpinists Melvin Bou, Kilian Moni and Raphael Olbrecht made the first ascent of the mixed climb 'Saute Aure et God Homme' (AI 5, M11 135m) on the rarely-formed classic Cascade de Saute Aure icefall in the Dévoluy massif of the Hautes-Alpes in France....

On 09/01/2026 Giordano Faletti, Martin Giovanazzi and Davide Miori made the first ascent of 'Mantel Ice' (300m, WI 5 M5+) on Cima Mantello on the Rosengarten / Catinaccio group of the Dolomites, Italy.

Scottish climber William Bosi has made the first ascent of 'Pôr Do Sol' at Sintra close to Lisbon. Graded 8C+/V16, it is currently the hardest boulder problem in Portugal.

In the course of 2025, first ski descents were completed from three exceptionally beautiful Dolomite peaks: Cima Garbari (3,018m, Brenta Dolomites) - East face direct; Crodon di San Candido (2,891m, Sesto Dolomites) - South face direct; Cima delle Fede (2,953m, Pale di San Martino) - North-East face. Vascellari reports.

Between 11 and 26 December 2025, Italian Mountain Guide Niccolò Bruni opened three new mixed routes on Rognon Vaudano (Mont Blanc): 'Le Piolet Perdu' with Alberto Boschiazzo, and 'Facile Facile 2.0' and 'Veloce Veloce 2.0' with Federica Furia.

Footage of French climber Laura Pineau repeating 'Butterfly Circus', the 8a+ crack in Ticinio, Switzerland described as 'one of Europe’s best splitter cracks.'

Watch American climber Chris Sharma establish 'Vision Quest', a 9a/+ deep water solo on the island of Mallorca first ascended in December 2024.

At Padaro above Arco (Italy), Giovanni Placci has repeated 'Terapia d'urto', the 9a+ freed by Stefano Ghisolfi in 2021.

On 31/12/2025 Filip Babicz and Olivier Gajewski climbed the historic 'Allain-Leininger' route (TD+, M7, 900m) on the north face of the Petit Dru (3,733m) in the Mont Blanc massif. This is a rare single-day free ascent in winter of this classic, established in 1935 by Pierre Allain and Raymond Leininger.

Watch Benjamin Védrines and Léo Billon climb the Matterhorn via the classic Schmid route, as part of their April 2025 Alpine Trilogy which resulted in them enchaining in 6 days and without motorised transport the Eiger, Matterhorn and Grandes Jorasses.

We are reproducing, courtesy of the Gorizia section of the Italian Mountaineering Club, the account of the historic first winter ascent of 'Diedro Nord' of Piccolo Mangart di Coritenza in the Julian Alps. Also referred to as 'Diedro Cozzolino', this dihedral was climbed solo by the Italian alpinist Renato Casarotto...

From 28 to 31 December 2025, French alpinists Antoine Bouqueret and Charles Dubouloz repeated the 'Directe Gamma' route on the southeast face of the Barre des Écrins (4,102m). This might well be the first winter ascent of this legendary route, first climbed in 1992 by the Italians Michele Frigerio, Eugenio...

From 27- 30 December 2025 French mountaineers Léo Billon, Amaury Fouillade, Nicolas Jean and Enzo Oddo made the first ascent of 'Basique' (1100m, V+ A2+ M5) up Point Whymper (4184m) on the north face of Grandes Jorasses in the Mont Blanc massif.

On 27 December 2025 Belgian climber Simon Lorenzi sent his 5th 9A boulder problem, 'Shaolin' at Red Rocks, USA.

The Pro Climbing League makes its competition debut on 28 February 2026 in London (UK) with an exciting head-to-head format of sixteen climbers (eight men and eight women) competing on identical boulders.