The news

The women’s expedition comprised of Anna Torretta, Cecilia Buil and Ixchel Foord has won the main grant of the First Ascent Expedition Award promoted by the Grit & Rock Award foundation aimed at promoting female first ascents. The expedition will attempt the unclimbed Mugu Peaks in Nepal in October.

The video of Stefano Ghisolfi redpointing La Capella, the 9b sports climb located at Siurana in Spain.

American alpinists Nathan Brown, Sam Macke, Jackson Marvell and Brian Mulvihill have established two new ice and mixed climbs at Jackson Hole, Wyoming, USA.

Interview with Czech climber Adam Ondra after the historic world’s first 9a+ flash, on Super Crackinette at Saint-Léger du Ventoux climbed on 10 February 2018.

Simone Moro and Tamara Lunger have carried out the first winter ascent of Pik Pobeda, also known as Gora Pobeda and at 3003 meters the highest mountain in Siberia, Arctic Polar Circle.

At Saint Léger in France Adam Ondra has made a flash ascent of Super Crackinette. This is the first time a 9a+ has successfully been flashed.

Oriane Bertone, the 12-year-old climber from France’s Réunion Island, has climbed Golden Shadow in Rocklands, South Africa. In doing so she has become the youngest person to climb an 8B+ boulder problem.

On 31/01/2018 Alexander Huber and Guido Unterwurzacher ascended Direkte Große Trichter, an ice and mixed climb up the West Face of Hoher Göll, Berchtesgaden Alps.

Swiss boulderer Giuliano Cameroni has made the first ascent of a series of quality boulder problems in the Ticino region of Switzerland. One of the highlights is IUR, a 8B+ described as one of the best in Cresciano.

On 19 January 2018 Hansjörg Auer and Tobias Holzknecht made the first ascent of Nordstau, a new mixed climb in the Ötztal, Austria. On 29 January Auer teamed up with Simon Messner to carry out the first winter ascent of the nearby North Face of Innerer Hahlkogel.

At Charmey in Switzerland Adam Ondra has repeated Meiose, indicating 9a+ instead of the 9b grade suggested by first ascentionist Pirmin Bertle, while at Saint Léger du Ventoux in France the 25-year-old Czech climber has free yet another 9a+.

Ice climbing in Italy's South Tyrol: in the Bletterbach Gorge Daniel Ladurner and Johannes Lemayer climbed Eistänzer, a probable new 110 m high ice and mixed climb graded WI6+ M6.

On Saturday 27 January 2018 HanNaRai Song won Lead category in the Ice Climbing World Cup in Corvara in Val Passiria for the third consecutive time. In the men's competition there was a maiden victory when Mohammadreza Safdarian Korouyeh became the first Iranian ever to clinch a stage victory. The...

Elisabeth Revol has been rescued off Nanga Parbat by Adam Bielecki, Denis Urubko, Jarek Botor and Piotr Tomala who climbed ceaselessly throughout the night. A helicopter transported the Frenchwoman to Islamabad and she will now return to France for medical treatment, while the four mountaineers will return to their attempt...

UPDATE at 22:28: Adam Bielecki and Denis Urubko reach Elisabeth Revol! This morning the rescue operation began to try and save Tomek Mackiewicz and Elisabeth Revol on Nanga Parbat. Two helicopters transported Adam Bielecki, Denis Urubko, Jarek Botor and Piotr Tomala from K2 to Nanga Parbat, dropping them off at...

High up on Nanga Parbat the Polish mountaineer Tomek Mackiewicz and France’s Elisabeth Revol have reportedly run into difficulty during their attempt to climb the mountain in winter. A rescue operation has been organised from K2.