The news

On 23 April Ricardo Scarian carried out the first ascent of Adidas 8b+ at Ranzo and the first repeat of Thin Ice 8c at Terlago, Italy

On Saturday 25 April the second stage of the Speed Climbing World Cup was won by the Russians Sergey Abdrakhmanov and Anna Stenkovaya. Qixin Zhong from China set a new world record of 7"22. 

On Saturday 25 April the second stage of the Speed World Cup will take place in Trent, Italy. The event is part of the 25th edition of the Trento FilmFestival.

40 year old Yuji Hirayama has amde the first ascent of The Fifth Element 9a at Chichibu, Japan.

40 year old Yuji Hirayama has made the first ascent of The Fifth Element 9a at Chichibu, Japan.

Adam Ondra has returned to Italy and carried out the first ascent of "Vento nei Capelli" 8c+/9a at Cornalba and "La grande linea dei sogni"8c+/9a at Erto.

The 57th Trento FilmFestival, the oldest film festival dedicated to mountains, exploration and adventure takes place in Trento from 21 April to 3 May. The films, evenings, main players and meetings and some thoughts about the pre-Festival...

The start of the Mezzalama Trophy scheduled for Sunday morning proved impossible due to deteriorating weather conditions which forced the organisers to postpone the start of more than 1000 athletes already at the start at Breuil - Cervinia. The classic ski mountaineering competition will probably be postponed a fortnight to...

Registration is now open for the Rock Junior, which will be held Saturday 06 and Sunday 07 June 2009 in Arco, Lake Garda, Italy.

The 17th Mezzalama Trophy will take place on 19 April 2009. This classic ski mountaineering marathon takes place once every two years and dates back to 1933. As usual it starts at Breuil-Cervinia and finishes at Gressoney la Trinité via the Monte Rosa glacier and the summit of Monte Castore.

Irrespective behaviour on behalf of climbers may result in access restrictions in Valle Verzasca, Switzerland.

At the start of March the Norwegian Alpine Club (Norsk Tindeklub, NTK) hosted an international climbing meeting on the remote Lofoten islands. 40 climbers from 15 different nations attended the event designed to raise awareness of the climbing potential on the islands and to highlight the importance of Norway's immense...

After failing to even reach Kangchenjunga and being forced therefore to change plans, Nives Meroi and Romano Benet are currently attempting the South Face of Annapurna in orderto climb their 12th 8000m peak. Prevailing conditions on the mountain continue to be difficult and our man in the field Manuel Lugli...

Polish mountaineer Piotr Morawski died on Dhaulagiri on 8 April after falling 20m into a crevasse. Piotr Drozdz, a friend and editor of the Polish Gory magazine, has sent us this text in memory of Morawski.

Due to the earthquake which hit the Abruzzo region of Italy, the Vertigo sports club has decided to cancel the International Lead Master at Penne, scheduled for 18 and 19 April 2009.

Due to the abundant snowfall this winter, Gerhard Hörhager has launched the following avalanche warning for Austria's Zillertal prior to Easter.