The news

On 03/10/2009 Luca Zardini made the frst ascent of "Welcome to the club" at the Campo boulders at Cortina d'Ampezzo which he believes is 9a.

On 17 October Matteo Gambaro made the first ascent of Azione Diretta 8c+/9a at Borgata Piatta a Montemale, Cuneo, Italy.

Marcello Cominetti retraces the twenty year history of Selvaggio Blu, the path which goes right through the wild and poetic heart of Sardinia.

A Swiss team comprised of Ivan Tresch, Michi Tresch, Tom Holzhauser and Dominik Angehrn has established Los Tigres del Norte (7c, 1200m) the first free route up Cerro Capicua in Cochamo Valley, Chile.

In summer 2009 Toni Lamprecht, Uli Strunz and Benno Wagner carried out the first ascent of the multi-pitch "Le Vieux et la mer" 8b in the Verdon Gorge, France.

Located on the border between Austria and Germany, the Chinesiche Mauer is one of best and biggest climbing areas in the Tyrol.

Sarah Seeger climbs Steinbock 8c in the Frankenjura, Markus Bock creates his hardest to date, The Man That Follows Hell 9a+, while Adam Ondra makes swift work of two other testpieces in Germany's premier climbing area.

On 8 October French climber Alain Robert scaled the 152m high Tour Ariane, at the Defense quarter in Paris, France

In a mere two months 14 year old Enzo Oddo from France has redpointed four routes 9a or harder, three of which are located at the Gorges du Loup.

At the start of October Lisa Benetti climbed Progetto 8b+ at the Covolo, Italy.

On 26/27/08/2009 Leopoldo Faria and Pedro Nogueira carried out the first repeat of Quinto Imperio (550m 8b) on the Naranjo de Bulnes, Picos de Europa, Spain.

Three new alpine multi-pitch routes by Reinhold Scherer and Dieter Stöhr on the Karwendel, Austria.

Interview with Martin and Florian Riegler after their climbing trips to the Bugaboos, Canada, where they carried out the first ascent of "The flying penguin" (300m, 5.12b)on the South Face of Pigeon Feathers.

In August 2009 Kilian Fischhuber from Austria freed Airstar Fb8b, a long-standing problem at Rocklands, South Africa.

All individual pitches of the original climb up the Totem Pole in Tasmania, Australia, were freed in January by Doug McConnell and Dean Rollins.

Between 11 and 14 August 2009 the German brothers Thomas and Alexander Huber carried out the first redpoint ascent of Eternal Flame, the legendary route up the S Buttress of Nameless Tower, Trango, Karakorum, Pakistan. The route had been established in 1989 by the Germans Kurt Albert, Wolfgang Güllich, Christof...