The news

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.

On 8 January 2026, in Valsavarenche (Aosta Valley, Italy), the mountain guides Niccolò Bruni and Giovanni Ravizza established 'Le Fantôme du Bricolage'. This is a mixed variant of the rarely formed ice climb 'Il fantasma di ghiaccio', first ascended in 1993 by A. Cambiolo, B. Gilardi, X. Iturrate, R. Lale,...

The documentary of the award-winning first ascent of Yashkuk Sar in Pakistan, carried out by the American alpinists August Franzen, Dane Steadman and Cody Winckler from 19 - 23 September 2024.

On 6 and 7 January 2026 French alpinists Melvin Bou, Kilian Moni and Raphael Olbrecht made the first ascent of the mixed climb 'Saute Aure et God Homme' (AI 5, M11 135m) on the rarely-formed classic Cascade de Saute Aure icefall in the Dévoluy massif of the Hautes-Alpes in France....

On 09/01/2026 Giordano Faletti, Martin Giovanazzi and Davide Miori made the first ascent of 'Mantel Ice' (300m, WI 5 M5+) on Cima Mantello on the Rosengarten / Catinaccio group of the Dolomites, Italy.

Between 11 and 26 December 2025, Italian Mountain Guide Niccolò Bruni opened three new mixed routes on Rognon Vaudano (Mont Blanc): 'Le Piolet Perdu' with Alberto Boschiazzo, and 'Facile Facile 2.0' and 'Veloce Veloce 2.0' with Federica Furia.

On 31/12/2025 Filip Babicz and Olivier Gajewski climbed the historic 'Allain-Leininger' route (TD+, M7, 900m) on the north face of the Petit Dru (3,733m) in the Mont Blanc massif. This is a rare single-day free ascent in winter of this classic, established in 1935 by Pierre Allain and Raymond Leininger.

Watch Benjamin Védrines and Léo Billon climb the Matterhorn via the classic Schmid 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.

We are reproducing, courtesy of the Gorizia section of the Italian Mountaineering Club, the account of the historic first winter ascent of 'Diedro Nord' of Piccolo Mangart di Coritenza in the Julian Alps. Also referred to as 'Diedro Cozzolino', this dihedral was climbed solo by the Italian alpinist Renato Casarotto...

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.

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.