540 News found

Interview with the Italian alpinist Stefano Ragazzo, who from 21 February to 7 March made the first solo ascent of 'Riders on the Storm' on the Central Tower of the Paine massif in Patagonia. This legendary 1300m bi wall was first ascended in 1991 by Kurt Albert, Bernd Arnold, Norbert...

The film Eternal Solo that documents the first rope-solo of 'Eternal Flame' on on Nameless Tower (6251m) in the Trango Tower group in Pakistan carried out by Stefano Ragazzo in summer 2024.

After two failed attempts, on 13-14/02/2026 American climber Tommy Caldwell and his Belgian counterpart Siebe Vanhee completed a remarkable 24-hour free ascent of the 'South African Route' on the East Face of the Central Tower of Paine in the Torres del Paine massif in Patagonia, Chile.

On Cerro Walwalun in the Cochamó Valley, Chile, the international team composed of Italy's Mirco Grasso and Slovenia's Jernej Kruder opened and subsequently freed 'Tarock', a big wall climb with difficulties up to 7c.

American climber Connor Herson has made the first ascent of Drifters Escape in Squamish, Canada, proposing 5.15a (9a+) and establishing it as the world's first trad climb of this difficulty.

Last summer on the north face of Mount Demirkazik in the Ala Daglar range of Turkey, the Italians Alessandro Larcher, Rolando Larcher and Federica Mingolla established 'Close to Heaven'.

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.

The ranking of the 10 most popular articles published in 2025 on Planetmountain.

Hugo Parmentier and Symon Welfringer, accompanied by Arthur Delicque, have established 'Resurrection' on Punta Lunarda in the Bavella massif in Corsica. The route has yet to be freed but the climbers believe the difficulties lie somewhere in the region on 9a, making it a strong contender for one the hardest...

Basque climber Iker Pou has repeated 'Witch Hunter' (9a) at Margalef. With his most recent ascent the 48-year-old celebrates a quarter of a century of 9a climbing, beginning with his repeat of 'Action Directe' in the Frankenjura in autumn 2000.

Climbing with John Kasaian, Laura Pineau has made the first female ascent of 'Wet Lycra Nightmare' on Leaning Tower in Yosemite, USA. First ascended by Jim Hewitt and Todd Skinner in 2004, the 9-pitch 8b is known for being the steepest big wall in the USA. The 25-year-old French climber...

American climber Sasha DiGiulian has made a free ascent of 'Platinum', also known as 'The Direct Line' on El Capitan in Yosemite, USA.

American climber Amity Warme has made a free ascent of the 'PreMuir Wall' (5.13c/d, 33 pitches) on El Capitan in Yosemite.

From 20 October to 5 November 2025, Filippo Colombo, Andrea Giglioli, Enrico Pession and Matteo Michetti opened 'Caccia al Tesoro' (Treasure Hunt), a new multipitch on the NE Face of Tuyat in Taghia, Morocco. Colombo reports

Russian mountaineer Alexander Odintsov has been named as 2025 recipient of the Piolets d'Or Carrière. He will receive the 17th Walter Bonatti - Piolets d’Or Lifetime Achievement Award at the international festival in San Martino di Castrozza (Dolomites, Italy) in December, and follows in the footsteps of Walter Bonatti, Reinhold...

Camilla Moroni and Pietro Vidi from Italy have successfully repeated the 'Pre-Muir Wall' on El Capitan in Yosemite Valley, USA.