The news

On 9/04 Guido Giacomelli and Mirko Mezzanotte won the Tour du Rutor, the final stage of the World Cup 2005, won by the Frenchmen Gachet Gregory and Perrier Florent ahead of Giacomelli and Mezzanotte and the Swiss duo Blanc and Brosse.

Europe's larget bouldering meeting is fast approachiing: on 7-8 May the second edition of the Melloblocco will take place in the splendid Val di Mello, Italy

From 17 to 21 March Patrick Gabarrou, Philippe Batoux and Christophe Dumarest made the first ascent of a new route on the North Face of Punta Margherita (4066m) at the Grandes Jorasses, Mont Blanc.

in February Scott Muir from Scotland managed to make an important first ascent 'Tsunami' M12, at the Mission Impossible Cave in Northern Italy.

On 30/03 Romano Benet, Nives Meroi, Luca Vuerich, Inaki Ochoa, Erri De Luca, Cesare Giuliani, Roberto Alloi, Mario Cedolin, Klemen Gricar, Christan Stangl, Peter Guggemos and Ivan Vallejo depart for Dhaulagiri., then Annapurna.

The Gurschen glacier (Andermatt, Switzerland) will be wrapped in plastic to prevent it from melting due to global warming.

The Bouldering Worldcup 2005 got underway in Birmingham, UK, on 18-20 March and was won by local Mark Croxall and Sandrine Levet.

On 15 March Luca Parisse repeated Karma 8a+ at Fontainebleau, Paris, France.

On 17 March Nicola Tondini and Nicola Sartori carried out the third ascent (and first winter ascent) of “Moulin Rouge” on the red-faced Roda di Vael in the Dolomites, first climbed in June 2002 by Oswald Celva and Christof Hainz.

Evgeny Kryvosheytsev has repeated The Game M13+, Cineplex Cave, Canada

The American Alpinist Magazine announced today that it has received Print Magazine’s 2004 Regional Design Award for the cover of Alpinist 6

A small Italian Ragni expedition has just returned from a successful 40-day trip to Chile, where it made the most of fantastic weather conditions to climb series of routes in the Azufre and Cochamó valley.

On Sunday 13 May Mirco Mezzanotte and Carlo Battel won the 15th ski mountaineering competition Sci Alpinistica Lagorai Cima d’Asta.

On February 19 Dave MacLeod made a winter ascent of "The Hurting" Scottish XI 11, believing this to be the hardest single pitch traditional mixed climb in the world.

In mid January a small Slovenian expedition comprised of Silvo Karo, Andrej Grmovsek, Tanja Grmovsek and Monika Kambic Mali made a series of fast ascents in Patagonia, including the first all-female ascent of Cerro Torre and the "Slovenian start for Cerro Torre"

The eigth edition of the Festiglass du Quebec took place in Canada from 18-20 February 2005. The individual competition was won by Evgeny Kryvosheytsev.