The news

21-year-old climber Italian climber Iris Bielli has sent her first 8c+, 'Il lupo perde il pelo ma non il vizio' at Sasso Pelo in Lombardy.

The UK-based charity GRIT & ROCK has announced the opening of applications for its 2026 Expedition Grant Awards, a dedicated $15,000 funding pool aimed at advancing female participation in groundbreaking alpine climbing. The application deadline is 31 March 2026.

French climber Esteban Daligault has repeated 'Bon Voyage', the E12 trad climb put up by James Pearson in 2023 at Annot in France.

The trailer of the first winter ascent of the Casarotto route on Fitz Roy in Patagonia, carried out on 07/09/2025 by Italian alpinists Matteo Della Bordella and Marco Majori.

On 23/01/2026 Simon Gietl and Vittorio Messini made the first ascent of 'Out of the Dark' on the north face of North Face of Laserz, Lienz Dolomites, Austria.

The international bouldering meeting by La Sportiva will take place from 6 to 9 May 2026 in Val Masino, Valtellina, the cradle of Italian bouldering. Online registration is now open and the new 'Give Melloblocco as a gift' initiative is still active.

American rock climber Sean Bailey has made the first ascent of 'Duality of Man' (9c) at Dry Canyon, Arizona, USA.

Raimundo De Andraca and Fernanda Carabias have made the first ascent of 'Sin obstáculos no hay camino' (600m, 5.12–, A1) on La Zaranda in Patagonia, Chile.

American rock climber Alex Honnold has successfully completed his free solo ascent of the Taipei 101 skyscraper in Taiwan. The 40-year-old required 1 hour and 31 minutes to climb one of the tallest buildings in the world.

Watch Scottish climber William Bosi making the first ascent of 'Pôr Do Sol' (8C+) at Sintra in Portugal.

On 20/01/2026 Austrian alpinists Martin Sieberer and Lukas Waldner completed the first winter ascent of 'Schutzengelweg' on the North Face of Sagwandspitze in the Valsertal valley in Tyrol, Austria. First ascended in summer 1982 by Andreas Orgler and Reinhard Schiestl, this is the first known repeat in 34 years.

On 20/01/2026 French alpinists Melvin Bou and Kilian Moni made the first ascent of 'Une histoire d'amitié' on the huge, untouched west face of Roc de Garnesier close to Lus-la- Jarjatte in France. This is their second new climb in the Dévoluy massif this season after 'Saute Aure et God...

Umberto Bado, with Paolo Giacobbe, Amedeo Giobbio and Luca Ponziani has established 'Smooth Criminal', a mixed climb next to the classic icefall 'Thriller '92' in Valle del Lys (Valle di Gressoney). Bado reports.

Watch Benjamin Védrines and Léo Billon climb the Grandes Jorasses via the Colton-McIntyre route, 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.

On 7 January 2026 Russian alpinists Boris Egorov, Vladimir Murzaev, Konstantin Yaemurd made the first BASE jump off Fitz Roy (Cerro Chaltén) in Patagonia. Egorov reports.

After having disappeared for nearly ten years, Balthazar — the oldest bearded vulture in the wild — has been found. On 27 October 2025, a report came in about a bird in distress, and this call for help turned into an exciting discovery.