The news

Yesterday in England's Ilkley Quarry Michele Caminati made a rare repeat of the gritstone route The New Statesman E8 7a.

Today, Friday 30 March 2012 at 11:30 at Mater Ecclesiae in Sassari, the final farewell to Lorenzo Castaldi “Enzolino”, for the numerous alpinists and climbers who met him at the crags, in the mountains and the alpine forums for which he was one of the most impassioned and careful contributors.

The videos of the six ascents nominated for the Piolet d'Or 2012, awarded to the Slovenians Nejc Marcic and Luka Strazar for their ascent of K7 West (Pakistan) and the Americans Mark Richey, Steve Swenson and Freddie Wilkinson for their ascent of Torre Egger (Patagonia) by Bjorn-Eivind Aartun and Ole...

From 28 February to 20 March Hansjörg Auer established The Music of Chance on the Kristallwand face up Kirchkogel in Austria

The video of The Shining, the route established by Sonnie Trotter and Tommy Caldwell on Mount Louis in Canada.

On 24 March 2012 Maurizio "Manolo" Zanolla made the first ascent of Roby Present (35m, proposed grade 8c+/9a) in Val Noana (Pale di San Martino, Dolomites). Established by Manolo, the route is dedicated to his friend Roberto Bassi.

The Game M13 at the Cineplex Cave in Canada has been repeated by Gordon McArthur.

The Piolet d'Or 2012 was awarded to two ascents, K7 West in Pakistan climbed by the Slovenians Nejc Marcic and Luka Strazar, and Saser Kangri II in India climbed by the Americans Mark Richey, Steve Swenson and Freddie Wilkinson. The ascent of Torre Egger in Argentina by Bjorn-Eivind Aartun and...

From 25 - 27 January 2012 Luca Giupponi, Rolando Larcher and Fabio Leoni carried out the first winter ascent (and first on-sight) of Via Cembridge (550m, 7b+ (6c obligatory) up Cima Margherita, Brenta Dolomites, Italy.

From 15 - 16 March 2012 Simon Gietl and Roger Schäli carried out the first winter traverse of the Tre Cime di Lavaredo in the Dolomites. The report by Simon Gietl.

A short video filmed by Jon Griffith about Ueli Steck explaining, and showing, his love for climbing.

The Piolet d'Or gets underway in Courmayeur and Chamonix today and 2012 celebrates the 20th anniversary of the world's most famous alpinism award. Four days of international alpinism at the foot of Mont Blanc to discuss, watch and celebrate alpinism in all its forms, to pay homage to Walter Bonatti...

The search operation has been called off for the alpinists Gerfried Göschl, Cedric Hählen and Nisar Hussain who went missing on Gasherbrum I on 09/03/2012.

Nicolas Favresse, Sean Villanueva, Stephane Hanssens and Jean-Louis Wertz have established two new routes up Amuri Tepui in Venezuela.

The fith Tris Rotondo took place on 11 March in Valle Bredetto (San Gothard, Switzerland). The Super Tris event was won by Cédric Brodard, Vincent Mabboux and Nicolas Philipona, while the Main Tris (which also counted for the Swiss Championship) was won by Gerhard Schneider and Alexander Hug and by...

English climber James Pearson has repeated Esclatamasters 9a at Perles in Spain.