The news

With less than two days to go to the Melloblocco, Jacky Godoffe gives some advice to the 1300 pre-registered...

Monique Forestier from Australia has made the third ascent of the beautiful Larger Than Life, 31 (8b) at Centennial Glen, Blue Mountains. In mid-April Garth Miller freed one of the hardest routes on the continent, One on One 33/34 (8c/8c+) at Mini Ha Ha, Blue Mountains.

A six-man Nepali-Tibetan team has summited Everest, while the Spaniards Inaki Ochoa de Olza and Jorge Echoeaga reached the summit of Manaslu (8.163m) on 29 April.

During the Easter break Luca Zardini carried out the first repeat of Drumtime, the route first ascended by Riccardo “Sky” Scarian at Fonzaso (BL) at the end of March.

American Lisa Rands continues to push for the psychological extreme with her first female ascent of Gaia E8 6c at Black Rocks, Peak District, England.

News about the structure of the Bouldering World Cup 2006 at Rovereto and the Parassiti Rock due to take place at the Palazzetto dello Sport in Rovereto from 12 - 14 May 2006.

The second round of the Bouldering World Cup 2006 held in Veliko Tarnovo (Bulgaria) last weekend was won by Kilian Fischhuber from Austria and Olga Bibik from Russia.

Kilian Fischhhuber repeats Dschungelfieber 8c/+ (Dschungelbuch, Austria). At Misja pec, Slovenia, he repeats Sanski par (extension) 8c+/9a together with Jorg Verhoeven, while Katharina Saurwein sends Mrtvaski ples (8b) and Corto (8a).

Josune Bereziartu has just on-sighted Hidrofobia 8b+ at Montsant, Spain and, in doing so, has become the first woman ever to on-sight 8b+!

Registration is now open for the fifth edition of the Rock Junior, the great European youth climbing festival which will be held in Arco on Saturday 17 and Sunday 18 June 2006.

From 12 - 14 May world-class bouldering returns to the Italian town of Rovereto with the third stage of the Bouldering World Cup 2006. Three days dedicated to the competition, an open-to-all meeting and a congress entitled Born to climb, which will consider the therapeutic benefits of climbing...

Scottish Dave MacLeod has climbed the direct finish to Requiem at Dumbarton Rock, Scotland, calling the climb Rhapsody and grading the route E11 7a. This makes it a strong contender for one of the hardest trad pitches in the world.

Arnold Senfter and Martin Moser from N. Italy, have made the first ascent of "Clean è Morto" on the North Face of the Croda Rossa pre-summit (3146m) in the Dolomites.

From 28 April to 1 May Croatia's Paklenica National Park will host the seventh edition of the “Big Wall Speed Climbing”.

From 14 - 23 March Philippe Batoux and Lionel Daudet made the first ascent of “Little Big Men” (A3, 6a, M5), on the wild and grandiose East Face of the Grandes Jorasses, Mont Blanc.

Cesare Bugada, Simone Pedeferri and Marco Vago, establish "Le berbere et la gazelle" 7c+ on the Poisson Sacret wall, Todra gorge, Morocco