The news

On 17/01/2012 Hayden Kennedy and Jason Kruk climbed the SE Ridge (the Compressor route) of Cerro Torre (Patagonia) via a route "by fair means" with difficulties up to 5.11 A2. In descent the two removed a significant portion of the Compressor route established by Cesare Maestri in 1970.

News from Nanga Parbat: Simone Moro and Denis Urubko continue to explore their hopes and the mountain itself. Yesterday they ventured to beyond 5800m to reach the base of the couloir which they will attempt to climb via their (new) route to the summit.

A short interview with Alex Honnold after his first ascent of the boulder Too Big To Flail at the Buttermilks, Bishop, USA.

On the North Face of Petit Dru (3754m) Ueli Steck and Jonathan Griffith have carried out what is likely to be the first free ascent of the Voie Lesueur (ED3, M8+, 900m) with some drytooling sections and a new variation finish.

Video of American climber on Red Bull and Vodka at Vail, Colorado, USA.

18/01/2012. Mario Merelli died this morning at 8:00am while climbing up Pizzo Redorta (Val Seriana, Bergamo, Italy). Merelli was one of the most famous Italian alpinists and Himalayan mountaineers and one of the driving forces of the Bergamo mountaineering scene.

On 12/01/2012 Florian ande Martin Riegler made the first free ascent of Non ci resta che piangere IX+/X- (Sella, Dolomites).

Another video of Jorg Verhoeven and Katharina Saurwein bouldering at the Buttermilks, Bishop, USA, where they climbed Evilution Direct and Saigon direct.

At the Buttermilks in Bishop (USA) Alex Honnold has freed Too Big to Flail, a super highball up the immense Luminance Block.

Recep Ince introduces the Turkish delights of rock climbing at the Kazikli Canyon in the Ala Daglar region.

The video of Enzo Oddo climbing La Rambla 9a+ at Siurana, Spain.

On 22,23,24 December 2011 the Italian Mountain Guide Andrea Di Donato and the alpinist from Chile Andres Zegers ascended the South Face of Aconcagua (6962m, Andes, Argentina), establishing a probable 800m new start variation to the Direct French route.

On 12/01/2012 Simone Moro and Denis Urubko acclimatised at 5400m on the Diamir Face of Nanga Parbat. Their attempt at the first winter ascent of Nanga Parbat will be via the line attempted by Messner and Eisendle in 2000, and not via the Kinshofer route.

Roland Hemetzberger has freed two new routes at the Austrian crag Achleiten, Tunnelblick 8c+/9a and Goldenpearl 8b+/8c

A video which combines the poem by Fernando Pessoa with climbing, interpreted by Lavarda for the Red Bull project Poets in Action.

Yesterday at Gateway Canyon in Nevada Paul Robinson freed his boulder problem Meadowlark Lemon 8C, the sitdown variation Meadowlark Lemon Stand.