New routes in Valsavarenche, Val d'Aosta

The Italian Val d'Aosta is once again the scene of hard leashless dry-tooling ascents. And once again Valsavaranche and 'Stevie's cave' are proving to be the most popular, with the advent of four new routes established by Manu Ibarra and the local Massimo Farina. Graded M5+, M6, M7+ and M8- respectively, these new lines make 'Stevie's cave' a fantastic dry-tooling crag.

Erik Svabof Italy paid a brief visit to the area on 9-10 December and freed "Via del dente" M7+, flashed "Le dragon abandone" M8- and repeated Stevie Haston's "009" M9 fourth go, all without leashes.

In line with last year's Ice World Cup ruling many manufacturers such as Grivel have designed new axes specifically for this type of climbing. The ice competitions get underway next week with the Austrian Championship, which surprisingly is also open to non-Austrians.