The news

From 28 to 31 December 2025, French alpinists Antoine Bouqueret and Charles Dubouloz repeated the 'Directe Gamma' route on the southeast face of the Barre des Écrins (4,102m). This might well be the first winter ascent of this legendary route, first climbed in 1992 by the Italians Michele Frigerio, Eugenio...

From 27- 30 December 2025 French mountaineers Léo Billon, Amaury Fouillade, Nicolas Jean and Enzo Oddo made the first ascent of 'Basique' (1100m, V+ A2+ M5) up Point Whymper (4184m) on the north face of Grandes Jorasses in the Mont Blanc massif.

On 27 December 2025 Belgian climber Simon Lorenzi sent his 5th 9A boulder problem, 'Shaolin' at Red Rocks, USA.

The Pro Climbing League makes its competition debut on 28 February 2026 in London (UK) with an exciting head-to-head format of sixteen climbers (eight men and eight women) competing on identical boulders.

Olivier Kolly, Filippo Sala and Silvan Schüpbach have made the first ascent of 'Le clin d’œil' on the north face of Dent Blanche (4357m) in Switzerland. The new route, climbed on 28 and 29 December 2025, forms part Schüpbach's 'The 6 Forgotten North Face' project.

The ranking of the 10 most popular articles published in 2025 on Planetmountain.

Ukrainian climber Ievgeniia Kazbekova has repeated 'Necessary Evil' (5.14c/8c+) at the Virgin River Gorge, USA, four months after giving birth.

On 20 December 2025, Gianluca Vighetti sent Niobe (9a) at Arco, while on 22 November he had sent his first 9a+, 'Lapsus' at Andonno.

Watch Benjamin Védrines and Léo Billon climb the north face of the Eiger, as part of their April 2025 Alpine Trilogy which resulted in them enchaining in 6 days and without motorised transport the Eiger, Matterhorn and Grandes Jorasses.

Watch Sébastien Berthe and Hugo Parmentier from France take on 100 different 7A boulder problems in Fontainebleau in a single day.

Hugo Parmentier and Symon Welfringer, accompanied by Arthur Delicque, have established 'Resurrection' on Punta Lunarda in the Bavella massif in Corsica. The route has yet to be freed but the climbers believe the difficulties lie somewhere in the region on 9a, making it a strong contender for one the hardest...

Climbing is now prohibited at Oliana, one of the world's foremost crags, located in Spain. The ban comes with the establishment of a 36-hectare protection zone aimed at preserving the prehistoric rock art in the area of the Contrafort del Rumbau

Starting today, a new series about sport climbing called 'Natural Heights' is live on Red Bull TV. Split into four episodes, the first season features Janja Garnbret, Alberto Ginés López, Nika Potapova, and Jakob Schubert.

Erwan Legrand, the 17-year-old son of climbing champion François Legrand, is putting in some excellent attempts on 'Bombé Bleu', the route bolted by Marc Le Menestrel in 1991 and still unrepeated.

Basque climber Iker Pou has repeated 'Witch Hunter' (9a) at Margalef. With his most recent ascent the 48-year-old celebrates a quarter of a century of 9a climbing, beginning with his repeat of 'Action Directe' in the Frankenjura in autumn 2000.

The video of Spanish climber Jorge Díaz-Rullo repeating 'Sleeping Lion', the 9b at Siurana in Spain established by Chris Sharma in March 2023.