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Last weekend Dave Birkett climbed what is being hailed as one of the most important new winter routes in Britain's Lake District for the last quarter of a century, Never Ever Say Never VIII 8 or E7 5c on Scafell's East Buttress.

The strong Italian climber Enrico Baistrocchi has managed the first repeat of the boudlery Oniyx 8c, first ascended by Markus Bock at Chironico, Switzerland. Massimo Malpezzi has the story.

Centercourt, the new extreme testpiece first climbed by Albert Leichtfried and Benedikt Purner at the start of Janauary, has been repeated twice, by the Slovenians Aljaz Anderle and Klemen Premrl and the Austrians Rudolf Hauser and Helmut Holleis.

In mid-January Renan Ozturk (USA) and Cory Richards (CAN) carried out the first ascent of the Central South Buttress of Tawoche (Khumbu Valley, Nepal) in alpine style (1200m ED2 VI 5.10 M4/5).

A selection of ice climbs in Valle di Tures, South Tyrol, Italy

Hansjörg Auer and Much Mayr have recently returned from their trip to Patagonia where despite terrible weather conditions they managed to forge "Waiting for Godot" (750m, 7b) along the East Face of Central Tower to the Col which separates the Central and North Tower.

The third stage of the Ice Climbing World Cup took place in Saas Fee last weekend and was won by Markus Bendler from Austria and Stéphanie Maureau from France.

On 15 January 2010 Giampiero Bertotti, Stefano dalla Gasperina, Enrico Bonino and Sofia Palmisano carried out the first ascent of Zero 70 (100m, 5/5+ II) in Valle di Champorcher (Valle d'Aosta).

On 4 Janaury 2010 the Austrian climbers Rudolf Hauser, Alexander Holleis and Rupert Huber carried out the first integral ascen of Gamsstubenfall (800m, WI7), one of the last great icefalls in the Gasteinertal, Austria. On 12 January Hauser climbed the classic icefall Supervisor (270m, WI6) without a rope.

On 17/01/2010 Markus Bendler from Austria and Chloe Graftiaux from Belgium won the ninth Ice Master di Daone, valid as the second stage of the Ice Climbing World Cup 2010.

The fifteenth international Ice Festival took place in Ouray (USA) a fortnight ago. The event attracted thousands of ice climbers and the competition was won by Josh Wharton (USA) and Ines Papert (GER). Will Gadd from Canada climbed almost 8000m of vertical ice in a 24 hour non-stop marathon to...

The video of American alpinist Colin Haley's 20/12/2009 solo ascent of Aguja Guillaumet in Patagonia, via the Amy route. The film was made by Haley with a video camera mounted on his helmet.

Isabel Boavida introduces the recently discovered Casal Pianos. Located 30km from Lisbon in Portugal, this crag currently hosts 55 routes up to 7c.

Swiss Mountain Guide Urs Odermatt introduces the Brunnital, one of the most important ice climbing venues in Switzerland.

A splendid icefall first ascended by M. Bernardi, G.C. Grassia and F. Salino almost 30 years ago at Vallone di Rochemolles (Val di Susa, Piemonte, Italy).

Climbing in Portugal has become more varied thanks to the recent discovery of the basalt sea cliff Casal Pianos. Located close to Lisbon, this crack trad cliff hosted an international meeting called "Pianos Rachados" in November.