The news

The Italian climbers Cristian Brenna and Riccardo Scarian have made the most of the cold, clear weather to free some old projects dotted around northern Italy.

Ines Papert and Harald Berger win the third stage of the ice World Cup 2003 in Saas Fee and the fourth Ice World Cup 2003

Alexei Tomilov and ines Papert win the second stage of the Ice World Cup in Daone 2003

Ines Papert and Harald Berger are the provisional leaders of the Ice World Cup second stage in Valle Daone 2003

No great surprises after the Open in the Ice master Valle di Daone

An expedition led by Krzysztof Wielicki is currently attempting the first winter ascent of K2

Valle di Daone, here we go! The second stage of the IWC 2003 gets underway tomorrow with the Open, comprised of 50 male athletes and 21 female athletes.

The Russian Dmitry Bychkov and the German Ines Papert win the first stage of the Ice World Cup 2003 in Pitztal, Austria

Valle di Daone: it's freezing! The intense cold that has gripped Italy has sped up work at the Ice Climbing Stadium in Valle di Daone and the structure is now completely frozen in ice.

Anna Torretta, Kurt Astner and Massimo Farina dry tooling in Italy

The classic Ciaspolada snowshoe race celebrates its 30 anniversary and changes course

Brief news roundup of Fitz Roy Patagonia ascents 2002 by Luca Maspes

Fresh snowfall followed by strong winds and a sudden rise in temperature have led to numerous avalanches discharging throughout the Alps.

The Frenchman Sebastien Foissac and the Italian Attilio Munari have recently qualified to become international Ice World Cup routesetters. Together with the three new judges Irina Ryzhenkova (RUS), Andrej and Jasna Pacjak (SLO) they completed a four-day course in Italy's Valle di Daone.

From 8 — 12 January 2002 the French Parc National des Ecrins will host the Fournel Ice Climbing Event for 800 ice climbers. The nominees for the Piolet D'Or 2002 will be presented, as will the winning films of the Banff Mountain Film Festival.

Italian Mauro Bubu Bole is now online with his personal www.climbubu.com