The news

In spring 2019 Simon Gietl and Vittorio Messini made the first ascent of Backstage, a 350m multi-pitch with difficulties up to VIII+/R3 on the south face of Kleine Zinne / Cima Piccola, Tre Cime di Lavaredo, Dolomites. Messini reports.

Simon Richardson reports about two new routes climbed on Mont Vert de Greuvetta in the Mont Blanc massif with Michael Rinn, the ephemeral mixed route Dinosaur Gully and the traditional multi-pitch rock climb Autumn Vibes.

Spanish climber Pol Roca Lopez has made the first ascent of Animalistic, an 8c Deep Water Solo climb on the island of Mallorca.

On Thursday 8 October 2020 at 12:00 the encounter between Reinhold Messner and Nirmal Purja, two of the most famous mountaineers in the world, will be streamed on gazzetta.it and ilfestivaldellosport.it

The film Vertical Ice: The Spirit of Guy Lacelle, dedicated to the Canadian ice climbing guru who died in 2009.

Ethan Berman and Uisdean Hawthorn have made the first ascent of Running in the Shadows (VI AI5 M6 2000m), a big new mixed route up the famous Emperor Face of Mount Robson in the Canadian Rockies.

Turkish rock climber Zorbey Aktuyun has made the first ascent of the 8a trad climb Kült at Pınarbaşı Canyon in the Aladağlar massif. Furthermore, on the striking Parmakkaya obelisk he has made a rope solo ascent of the classic Orient climb, established by Helmut Gargitter and Pauli Trenkwalder.

A video tribute to Tom Hornbein, the formidable American mountaineer famous above all for his first ascent of the West Ridge of Everest in 1963 with Willi Unsoeld, by the American Alpine Club Legacy Series.

On Thursday 8 October the video will be aired documenting the encounter between Reinhold Messner and Nirmal Purja, two of the most famous mountaineers in the world, in the run-up to the Gazzetta dello Sport Festival which take place in Milan, Italy, from Friday 9 to Sunday 11 October.

The video of French climber Seb Bouin repeating Biographie, the 9a+ at Céüse freed in 2001 by Chris Sharma. Featuring Arnaud Petit and Sylvain Millet.

22-year old British rock climber Mathew Wright has made a rare ascent of Hubble, the Ben Moon masterpiece at Raven Tor. First ascended in 1990 and hailed as the world’s first 8c+, this is increasingly considered the world’s first 9a.

Robbie Phillips, Pete Whittaker, Tom Randall and Culann O’Brien crack climbing below an overpass in Edinburgh, Scotland

In September 2020 Georgian mountaineers made a 16-day trip to Svaneti in Central Caucasus and completed two new routes. The first, by Archil Badriashvili, Giorgi Tepnadze and Levan Lashkarashvili, up the SW Face of Ailama (4,547m), the second by Badriashvili and Tepnadze up the NW Face of Ushba. Badriashvili reports.

Spanish climber Jorge Díaz-Rullo has repeated El Bon Combat, the 9b at Cova de Ocell in Spain established in 2015 by Chris Sharma.

Martin Sieberer reports about his repeats with Hannes Hohenwarter of Locker vom Hocker on Schüsselkar, Tschechenplatte in the Karwendel and Pumprisse in the Wilder Kaiser. Three classic limestone trad climbs in Tyrol, Austria, climbed one day after the next, and reached by train and bike.

On Gross Wellhorn in Switzerland’s Bernese Oberland the alpinists Silvan Schüpbach, Matteo Della Bordella and Yannick Glatthard have completed Ying Yang, a 450m multipitch climb graded 8b.