Austrian alpinist Heinz Mariacher is the recipient of the Paul Preuss Award 2020. Mariacher is the eighth mountaineer to receive the prestigious prize after Reinhold Messner, Hanspeter Eisendle, Albert Precht, Hansjörg Auer, Alexander Huber, Beat Kammerlander and Bernd Arnold.
At Briançon in France Laura Rogora from Italy and Adam Ondra from the Czech Republic won the first and probably only stage of the Lead World Cup 2020. Rogora is only the second Italian woman to win gold in a Lead World Cup stage after Luisa Iovane who won in Yalta in 1989.
Belgian climbers Nico Favresse and Seb Berthe have repeated End of Silence, the 8b+ multi-pitch on the Feuerhorn in Germany first ascended by Thomas Huber in 1994. In doing so the Belgian climbers have repeated the famous Alpine Trilogy hat trick.
The first and potentially last stage of the 2020 Lead World Cup is currently taking place in Briançon, France, today and tomorrow. Live streaming from today’s semifinals at 19:30 today, and from the finals tomorrow evening at 19.30.
Federica Mingolla and Leo Gheza have made the first repeat of Il Giovane Guerriero, Young Warrior, the route established only recently up the east face of the Grandes Jorasses in the Mont Blanc massif by Matteo Della Bordella, Matteo Pasquetto and Luca Moroni. The route was dedicated to Matteo Pasquetto who lost his life during the descent. Mingolla and Gheza report.
Seb Berthe and Nico Favresse have made a single-day, ground-up repeat of Des Kaisers neue Kleider (240m, 8b+), first ascended by Stefan Glowacz in the Wilder Kaiser massif in Austria in 1994.
Polish rock climber Łukasz Dudek has made a rope solo ascent of Pan Aroma, the 550m 8c multi-pitch rock climb on Cima Ovest di Lavaredo in the Tre Cime di Lavaredo group of the Italian Dolomites.
French mountaineer Symon Welfringer has had a productive July and August in the Mont Blanc massif which includes a single day, all-free ascent of Manitua on the North Face of the Grandes Jorasses.
Italian mountaineer Leonardo Gheza reports about his solo ascent of the Central Pillar of Frêney in the Mont Blanc massif on 6/08/2020. This might well be the first solo ascent in just a single day. In any case it was an amazing experience on one of the most famous faces in the Alps.
Rock climbing has been temporarily banned at one of Australia’s premier crags, Taipan Wall in the Grampians.
On the east pillar of Rienzwand in Rienztal (Höhlensteintal, Dolomites) Peter Manhartsberger and Martin Wibmer have established Osttiroler Marende, a new alpine sports climb graded 7b.
Four remarkable ascents will be awarded the Piolets d'Or 2020 at the Ladek Mountain Festival in Poland from 11 - 22 September: Chamlang by Marek Holeček and Zdeněk Hák, Tengi Ragi Tau by Alan Rousseau and Tino Villanueva, Link Sar by Mark Richey, Steve Swenson, Chris Wright and Graham Zimmerman and Rakaposhi by Kazuya Hiraide and Kenro Nakajima.
The video of Adam Ondra analysing one of the most debated aspects in sport climbing: the grades of routes.
Seb Berthe and Nico Favresse are currently on a bike and climbing trip across the Alps. The Belgian climbers have made swift work of Silbergeier and Headless Children in the Rätikon massif and are now cycling towards Wilder Kaiser in Austria.
American rock climber Kai Lightner has launched Climbing for Change, a non-profit organisation that aims to readdress racial inequality in rock climbing and make the outdoor industry.
On 06/08/2020 Barbara Zangerl made the first repeat of Kampfzone, an 8b+ multi-pitch in the Rätikon first ascended by Beat Kammerlander ground-up in 2013 and freed in 2017. Jacopo Larcher followed suit yesterday.
Yesterday afternoon Matteo Pasquetto, the talented Italian alpinist and aspirant mountain guide, lost his life while descending from the Grandes Jorasses in the Mont Blanc massif.
Polish mountaineer Filip Babicz has made a solo ascent of the Integralissima de Peuterey in the Mont Blanc massif in an astounding 17 hours. This is the first repeat of the 'Longest ridge in the Alps’, first climbed in full by the Germans Gottlieb Braun-Elwert and Rudi Kirmeier in 1973.
At Céüse in France the German climber Alex Megos has made the first ascent of Bibliographie and suggested the grade 9c. This is now the most difficult sport climb in France and only the second in the world this difficult.
Italian alpinist Federica Mingolla reports about her repeat with Leonardo Gheza of Manitua, the difficult route first ascended solo by Slavko Svetičič in 1991 on the north face of the Grandes Jorasses in the Mont Blanc massif.
