The news

On 5 October the Mountain Kingdom Cho Oyu expedition returned to Kathmandu, unfortunately without having reached the 8201m summit of the Turquoise Goddess. Fabrizio Beozzi managed the first ski descent of the Messner variation from 6900m to 6000m.

Jakob Schweighofer and Florian Wurm have repeated Chimera verticale, established by Alessandro Baù in 2009 on Monte Civetta, Dolomites.

In August 2011 a Swiss Bavarian expediton comprised of Caroline Morel, Andres Lietha, Michi Wyser, Tom Holzhauser, Michi Tresch and Toni Lamprecht established 10 new routes on Quvnerit Island in Greenland.

The sixth stage of the Lead World Cup 2011 took place in Boulder (USA) last weekend and was won by Austrian Jakob Schubert and his teammate Johanna Ernst

On 30 September Hervé and Marco Barmasse established a new 800m line up the SE Face of Monte Rosa. This third stage marks the end of Hervé Barmasse's project entitled Exploring The Alps.

On Tuesday 30 August 2011 Italian alpinist Fabrizio della Rossa carried out what is believed to be the first solo ascent, and one of the rare repeats, of via Casarotto on Cima Civetta 3220m (Dolomites).

New Zealand climber Mayan Smith-Gobat has successfully free climbed The Salathé Wall up El Capitan, Yosemite, USA.

American alpinists Conrad Anker, Jimmy Chin and Renan Ozturk have successfully climbed a direct new route via the Shark's Fin on the NW face of Meru (6310m) in India's Garhwal Himalaya.

In Twll Mawr in the Dinorwig slate quarry in Wales Ian Lloyd-Jones and Sion McGuinness have established The Rock Bottom Line (130m, 7b+).

The video of Nico Favresse and Adam Pustelnik making the first repeat of Orbayu on Naranjo de Bulnes, Spain.

The 5th stage of the Lead World Cup 2011 took place in Puurs, belgium last weekend and was won by Jakob Schubert from Austria and Jain Kim from Korea.

Interview with American climber Alex Honnold after his recent solo ascents of Heaven, Alien and Cosmic Debris in Yosemite, USA

Slovenian alpinists Urban Novak, David Debeljak, Luka Strazar and Nejc Marcic have established Dreamers of the Golden Caves up the K7 (6934m) in the Charakusa valley, (Karakoram, Himalaya).

Interview with Hansjörg Auer after the first ascent of Bruderliebe (800m/8b/b+) up the South Face of the Marmolada in the Dolomites.

Swedish alpinists Olov Isaksson and Michael Rüter have climbed what might possibly be a new variation up the North Face of the Grandes Jorasses (Mont Blanc range).

Sunday 2 October 2011. The 10th Rock Junior, the biggest youth climbing happening, came to an end in Arco today. Organised by the Rock Master Association, the meeting beat all previous records with more than 600 young climbers (5 –...