The news

Scottish climber Dave MacLeod has made the third ascent of Lexicon, one of the most difficult trad climbs in the UK first ascended by Neil Gresham in summer 2021 at Pavey Ark in the Lake District and repeated by Steve McClure shortly afterwards.

The film Proof of Concept directed by Ben Neilson about Sean Bailey and his breakthrough year which resulted in 3 World Cup wins and a repeat of Bibliographie 9b+ at Céüse in France.

French climber Symon Welfringer has repeated Le Voyage at Annot. The hardest trad climb in France was first ascended by James Pearson in 2017.

In February 2022 Kim Marschner at Chironico in Switzerland made the first ascent of the 8C boulder problem Forgotten Gem. A month earlier at Cresciano the 24-year-old German had repeated the 8C bloc Crystal Ship.

The video of Adam Ondra freeing an old project, an 8b+ slab called Italo-Spagnola at Bus de La Stria at Arco, Italy.

At the crag Terra Promessa close to Arco, Italy, Adam Ondra has made the first ascent of Wonderland 9b/+

The video of Japanese climber Yuji Hirayama making the first free ascent of Hanabi, the 8c+ freed by the 52-year-old at Futagoyama (Mt Futago) in Japan at the end of 2021.

Uncut climbing video: Stefano Ghisolfi making the first ascent of The Lonely Mountain 9b at Arco, Italy in December 2021

From 24 to 27 March the global online premiere of Reel Rock 16 featuring 4 new climbing films: Bridge Boys with Tom Randall and Pete Whittaker, Barefoot Charles with Charles Albert, Big Things To Come with Alex Johnson and Cuddle with Tommy Caldwell and Alex Honnold.

At Fontainebleau in France Italian climber Niccolò Ceria has repeated La Révolutionnaire, the boulder problem put up by Charles Albert and graded 8C+.

British rock climber Hazel Findlay has redpointed her first 9a, Esclatamasters 9a at Perles in Spain.

Slovenian climber Janja Garnbret has made the first female ascent of Bügeleisen, the iconic 8B+ boulder problem put up by Klem Loskot in 2001 at Maltatal in Austria.

The video of Gabriele Moroni making the first repeat of the 9a+ Naturalmente at San Rocchino close to Camaiore in Italy, freed in 2017 by Adam Ondra.

53-year-old Japanese rock climber Yuji Hirayama has made the first ascent of Peaceful Mountain 9a at Futagoyama (Mt Futago) in Japan.

29-year-old Czech climber Adam Ondra has made the first ascent of Bomba 9b at Bus de La Stria (Hotel Olivo) in Arco, Garda Trentino, Italy.

The video of Stefano Ghisolfi making the first ascent of L'Arenauta, a 20-year-old project at Grotta dell'Arenauta (Sperlonga) now graded 9b.