Ang Rita Sherpa, the legendary Nepalese mountaineer nicknamed Snow Leopard and famous for having climbed Everest 10 times without the use of supplementary oxygen between 1983 and 1996, passed away yesterday at 72.
The video of the new cross on Punta Dufour, at 4634 meters in altitude the highest mountain in the Monte Rosa massif.
The Italian Matterhorn Guides inform that due to rockfall the Échelle Jordan ladder is currently inaccessible. The guides have equipped a new line to the left of the ladder in order to reach the summit.
The time-lapse from Capanna Margherita on Monte Rosa. This is the last video of 2020, since the highest mountain hut in the Alps has now closed its summer season.
The press release concerning a 'mountaineering' flash mob that took place on 03/40/2020 on the Cinque Torri (Cortina, Dolomites) in protest against new ski lifts and constructions in the Dolomites.
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.
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.
Interview with Andrea Lanfri who climbed Mont Blanc via the normal Italian route with Massimo Coda. In all likelihood they are theirs is the first paraclimbing partnership to achieve this undertaking.
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.
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.
The video by Bertrand Delpierre illustrating the retreat of the Mer de Glace glacier in the Mont Blanc massif.
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.
Mountain guides François Cazzanelli and Francesco Ratti have enchained the Ratti-Vitali route on Aiguille Noire de Peutèrey, the Gervasutti - Boccalatte route on Picco Gugliermina and the Central Pillar of Frêney, first climbed in 1961 by Chris Bonington, Ian Clough, Jan Duglosz, Don Whillans before proceeding to the summit of Mont Blanc. The so-called Super Integrale de Peutèrey, or Frêney trilogy, was climbed in 1982 by the great Italian mountaineer Renato Casarotto alone and in winter during an epic ascent that has gone down in the history of mountaineering as one of the all-time greatest climbs.
French mountaineer Catherine Destivelle will become the first woman to receive the Piolet d'Or Carrière Lifetime Achievement Award at the Ladek Mountain Festival in Poland in September. In the past the coveted prize has been awarded to greatest mountaineers of all times.
Italian mountaineer Federica Mingolla reports about the first integral ascent, with Leonardo Gheza, of Incroyable, the rock climb established just a few days ago on the Pilier Rouge du Brouillard in the Mont Blanc massif by Matteo della Bordella, François Cazzanelli and Francesco Ratti. Mingolla repeated the route a few hours after having climbed the historic Ratti - Vitali route on Aiguille Noire de Peuterey with Lorenzo Pernigotti.
French alpinist and mountain guide Jérôme Sullivan reports about Mad Max, a new route up the East Face of Grandes Jorasses in the Mont Blanc massif established from 8-9 July 2020 with Jérémy Brauge and Victor Saucède.
Matteo Della Bordella, president of the Ragni di Lecco mountaineering club, reports about Incroyable, the superb and difficult new route on Red Pillar of Brouillard (Mont Blanc) first ascended on 30 June and 1 July with Matterhorn mountain guides François Cazzanelli and Francesco Ratti. The first free team ascent was carried out on 8 July 2020 by the trio with fellow mountain guide Isaie Maquignaz on 08/07/2020.
On 8 July 2020 the two Swiss mountaineers Adrian Zurbrügg and Nicolas Hojac completed the spectacular traverse of the 18 mountains in the Monte Rosa massif above 4000 meters in just 13 hours and 39 minutes.
