The news

At The Temple in Canada Will Gadd has made the first ascent of Instagrade, a 60m mixed climb the Canadian alpinist has defined as "a lot harder than anything I've ever climbed."

At Cova de Ocell close to Barcelona in Spain Chris Sharma has freed a difficult boulder problem he has described as the "Catalan Witness the Fitness."

At Santa Linya in Spain 16-year-old sports climber Janja Garnbret has flashed La Fabelita, her second 8c. On the same day she onsighted an 8a+ and an 8b.

On 31/12/2015 at Margalef in Spain Alexander Megos made the third ascent of First Round First Minute 9b, after Chris Sharma and Adam Ondra. On 01/01/2016 he repeated First Ley 9a+ and La Ley Indignata 9a at the same crag.

Christos Boukoros, one of Greece’s premier outdoor photographers, died on Wednesday 30 December 2015 in a car crash while traveling from Volos to Larissa.

Rock climbing at the Black Wall and other granite crags at the world class Donner Summit in California has been secured thanks to the Access Fund, the local climbing community and other partners who have purchased the land.

At Santa Linya in Spain Mina Markovic has repeated Fabela Pa La Enmienda 9a, Janja Garnbret has flashed Rollito Sharma 8c and Domen Skofic has redpointed Fuck the system 9a.

In 2014 Pietro Biasini, Daniele Bianchi and Mirko Masè established the first seven pitches of Here today gone tomorrow (X-, 215m) on Scoglio delle Metamorfosi in Val di Mello, Italy. In November 2015 Bianchi and Masé completed the climb in memory of their friend Pietro Biasini, who died in Norway...

On Sunday 27 December 2015 John Ellison, the founder of the charity Climbers against Cancer, passed away. In the space of just a few years the inspirational Englishman achieved the unprecedented feat of bringing the entire climbing community together through CAC, aimed at raising awareness about cancer and gathering funds...

On Friday 25 December 2015 Roland Hemetzberger freed an old project of Stefan Fürst at Achleiten in Austria, for which he suggests the grade 9a+.

The 2015/16 ice climbing season in Corvara was originally planned to begin on Saturday, 26 December. Unfortunately, the unseasonally high temperatures forced the Association Verein Eisturm Rabenstein to change their plans.

Download free of charge today’s crag in the climbing advent calendar by Vertical Life and planetmountain.com: Lumignano in Italy.

Download free of charge today’s crag in the climbing advent calendar by Vertical Life and planetmountain.com: Spartan Wall at Kalymnos, Greece with 37 climbs from 4a to 8c+

Download free of charge today’s crag in the climbing advent calendar by Vertical Life and planetmountain.com: Monte Cucco at Finale Ligure with 293 climbs up to 8c.

Maurizio Oviglia introduces 10 trad cracks at Cadarese in Val d'Ossola, Italy, ideally suited to learn how to crack climb.

France's Romain Desgranges explores his physical and psychological limits bouldering on highball problems at Joshua Tree, USA.