The news

The first stage of the Swatch Freeride World Tour by The North Face 2014 kicks off at 10:30am this morning at Courmayeur, Italy. The six-stage freeride competition will take place on a new race course and can be followed in live streaming.

Pre-registration is now online for Melloblocco 2014 , the biggest bouldering and climbing meeting in the world that will be held in Val di Mello - Val Masino, Italy, from 1 - 4 May 2014.

At Courmayer in the Mont Blanc massif the avalanche transceiver training areas at Pré de Pascal and Pavillon du Mont Fréty are now operational. These can be used free of charge by all those who wish to learn more about mountain safety.

At the end of November 2013 Iker Pou and his brother Eneko made the first free ascent of La Tarragó at Montserrat in Spain. The 240m line boasted difficulties up to 8b+ but subsequently the bolts were removed by unknown climbers and, as such, no longer exists.

In June 2013 Austrian boulderer Bernd Zangerl made the first ascent of Shantaram, a difficult new boulder problem close to Trondheim in Norway.

On 7 December 2013 Cristiano Iurisci, Massimo Zulli and Antonio Di Martino made the first ascent of Il Grande Salto (TD+, 55/65°, 75°, M3+) in the remote, inhospitable, isolated and wild Valle Inferno in Italy's Majella National Park. The story by Cristiano Iurisci of what is likely to be the...

Albert Leichtfried has put up three new ice, mixed and drytooling routes in the Tirol, Austria, together with Benedikt Purner and Christian Picco Piccolruaz: Black Denim (WI5/M5) at Ochsengarten, Figure 443 (M13) at Dryland and Bese Hexe (M9+, WI7-, 190m) in the Stubaital.

The video of Italian climber Stefano Ghisolfi on Grandi Gesti 9a at the Grotta dell'Arenauta, Sperlonga, Italy.

Interview with James Pearson after the first ground-up repeat of Is not always Pasqua E9 at Collina di Interprete (Monti Sibillini, Marche, Italy) and the first ascent of Pazienza E8 7a.

On 2 January 2014 the Americans Joel Kauffman, Neil Kauffman and Mikey Schaefer made the first ascent of Super Domo (V 600m WI5 M6) up the East Face of Cerro Domo Blanco in Patagonia.

The Lucky Monkey video by American climber Cheyne Lempe.

Enrico Bonino introduces B & B - Azione indecente, a new dry tooling area Cogne (Aosta), Italy.

During the Christmas holidays Stefano Ghisolfi repeated Grandi gesti 9a at Grotta dell'Arenauta, Sperlonga, Italy. Furthermore, at Pietra di Bismantova he managed to flash an 8b+.

At Kandersteg in Switzerland Robert Jasper and Wolfram Liebich have made the first ascent of The Black Death, a new ice and mixed route graded WI7/M8, E5, 250m.

At the end of 2013 British rock climbers Tyler Landman and Pete Whittaker made the first ascents of two notable, unclimbed lines on Britain's gritstone: the boulder problem Smiling Buttress at Curbar and Headless Horseman Arête at the Roaches.

Ralf Dujmovits and Darek Zaluski have abandoned their winter ascent of Nanga Parbat via the Diamir Face. Those still attempting the first winter ascent of Nanga Parbat are Simone Moro, Emilio Previtali and David Göttler, as well as the Poles Tomasz Mackiewicz, Marek Klonowski, Jacek Teler and Pawel Dunaj, all...