The news

On 19/02/2012 Giorgio Iurato and Gabriele Puccia made the first ascent of Rosa dei venti (210m, 6c) at Cava grande del Cassibile (Siracusa, Sicily). The report by Gabriele Puccia.

On 16/03/2012 Daniele Natali and Tito Arosio made the first winter ascent of Via Paco (7b (6c+ obligatory), 400m), while a day later Maurizio Panseri and Fulvio Zanetti made the first winter ascent of Via Bosio (7a+ (6°+ obligatory) 430m) up the North Face of Presolana, Italy.

In March 2012 Nicolas Favresse, Sean Villanueva, Stephane Hanssens and Jean-Louis Wertz established Maria Rosa (7b, 500m) and Apichavai (8a+, 500m) on Amuri Tepui in Venezuela. The trip report by Nico Favresse.

Spanish climber Nacho Sánchez has freed Insomnio at Cova de la Gota at Crevillente, Spain.

In December 2011 and January 2012 Slovenian climbers Luka Krajnc and Matic Obid repeated a number of routes on Acopan Tepui and established their Miss Acopan (7b, 250m).

On 24 and 25 March the riverbed in Val Rosandra was cleaned, and highly contested, by environmentalists.

On 25-26/02/2012 Alessandro Baù and Enrico Geremia carried out the first repeat, and first winter ascent, of the route Andamento Lento in Val Scura (Dolomites), established by Gigi Dal Pozzo, Maurizio Fontana and Venturino De Bona in 1997. The report by Alessandro Baù.

From 14 to 16 March 2012 the Italian climbers Andrea Di Donato and Bertrand Lemaire made the second winter ascent of the route Il nagual e la farfalla up Gran Sasso, Central Italy. The report about this outstanding ascent by Roberto Iannilli.

The video of Steph Davis in which she talks about her relationship with fear.

In March 2012 Belarus climber Sergei Shaferov established a series of sport climbs at Okuzini in Turkey, the most difficult being All inclusive 8c/c+.

On 31/03/2012 David Lama solo climbed the new route Badlands (700m, 6a M5 WI4 A1) up the unnamed face between Sagwand and Hohe Kirche in the Valsertal, Tyrol, Austria

The video of Ramon Julián Puigblanque climbing Escalatamasters 9a at Perles in Spain.

The Bouldering World Cup 2012 begins in April with the first stage in Chongqing (China), followed by Log-Dragomer (SLO), Vienna (AUT), Innsbruck (AUT), Vail (USA) and Munich (GER).

The great crag Pian Bernardo, with almost 90 routes from 6b - 8c+ high up in Val Tanaro, Piemonte, Italy, introduced by Matteo Pino and Anna Gonzalez.

The trailer for the film Autana and the route The Yopo Wall, established by Leo Houlding and companions on Cerro Autanta in Venezuela.

Video of the final stage of the Ice Climbing World Cup 2012 which took place in Kirov, Russia and was won by Angelika Rainer and Maxim Tomilov.