The news

Winter climbing in Scotland has begun in earnest with the first ascent of Local Hero at An Teallach by Greg Boswell and Guy Robertson

Buster Martin has repeated First Ley 9a+ at Margalef in Spain. In doing so he has become only the second Briton to climb a confirmed 9a+ after Steve McClure.

Orazio Codega, president and genuine soul of CAMP, has passed away aged 80. Born in 1939, from the Sixties until 2004 he shaped the Italian company into becoming it one of the world leaders in the production of climbing and mountaineering equipment.

Stefan Glowacz, Philipp Hans, Markus Dorfleitner, Christian Schlesener and Moritz Attenberger have established a new route up Grundtvigskirken (1977m) in Greenland. The entire German expedition was carried out by fair means.

The film Rotpunkt featuring Alexander Megos; a portrait of the German climber and a look into the history of free climbing including the likes of Kurt Albert and Wolfgang Güllich.

An Italian (Gilberto Merlante), a Pole (Wojtek Szeliga) and a Turk (Tunc Findic) have made the first ascent of 500+, a multi-pitch rock climb up the west face of Domuzucan Peak close to Geyikbayiri in Turkey.

American rock climber Nellie Milfeld, belayed by her husband Cedar Wright, has made a rare female ascent of Freerider up El Capitan in Yosemite

The award-winning animated short film Hors Piste is online, featuring the hilarious and hapless mountain rescuers Parmesan and Salami

From 11 - 16 October 2019 alpinists Quentin Roberts from Canada and Juho Knuuttila from Finland made an impressive attempt of the unclimbed North Pillar of Tengkangpoche (Teng Kang Poche) in Nepal. Knuuttila reports about their first proper experience climbing in the Himalaya.

Andy Pollitt, a rock climbing icon of 80’s and 90’s, passed away on 13 November 2019 in a Melbourne hospital. He was 56. Dave Barnes pays tribute.

The video of Magnus Midtbø tackling two ‘legendary' slabs at Arco first ascended by Heinz Mariacher: Super Swing (1983) at Swing Area and Tom e Jerry (1984) at Spiaggia delle Lucertole immediately above Lake Garda.

25-year-old boulderer Ryuichi Murai has made the first ascent of United, an 8C+ boulder problem at Mizugaki in Japan.

Belgian rock climber Sébastien Berthe has made a rare free ascent of The Nose on El Capitan, Yosemite.

Alpinists Alexander Huber and Guido Unterwurzacher have completed Koasabluad, a difficult multi-pitch rock climb up Maukspitze in the Wilder Kaiser massif in Austria, where in 2014/2015 they established Südwind. Unterwurzacher reports.

On the north face of Campanile Basso in the Brenta Dolomites Alessandro Beber, Gianni Canale and Matteo Faletti have made the first ascent of Destrani, a new rock climb located between Spigolo Graffer and Via Maestri Claus.

At Oliana in Spain Belgian climber Anak Verhoeven has onsighted an 8b+, Gorilas en la Niebla, and redpointed a 9a+, Joe Mama, conferming her status as one of the best climbers in the world.