Keyword: mountaineering

Jost Kobusch reached the highest peak in North America on Sunday. The German alpinist is the first non-American to solo climb Denali in winter and the first person to do so via the Messner Couloir.

From February 12th to 13th, the Italian alpinists Francois Cazzanelli, Emrik Favre and Stefano Stradelli opened a new route on the west face of the Aiguille Noire du Peuterey (3.773 m) in the Mont Blanc massif: Couloir Isaïe (600m, M8, 7a/ 7a+, AI5).

Charles Dubouloz, Symon Welfringer and Clovis Pauline manage the first free ascent of the Directissime de la Pointe Walker (ED++, 7a, A2) in the notorious north face of the Grandes Jorasses. At the same time, it is the first winter ascent and the first repetition of the route from 1986.

The French mountain guides Benjamin Védrines, Nicolas Jean and Julien Cruvellier de Luze are opening a new route through the previously untouched "La Gorge" on the south face of the Barre des Écrins, the southernmost 4000m peak in the Alps: De l'Or en Barre (1000m, M7 , A1, 5+, ED+).

The Basque mountaineer Alex Txikon succeeds together with the six Nepalese mountaineers Tenjen Sherpa, Pasang Nurbu Sherpa, Mingtemba Sherpa, Chhepal Sherpa, Pemba Tasi Sherpa and Gyalu Sherpa on a historic winter ascent of the 8163 meter high Manaslu. Almost 40 years have passed since the first summit success in winter. To date, only 22 mountaineers have achieved this enormous feat.

In his mountaineering career, Silvo Karo has climbed over 2000 routes and made more than 300 first ascents. The Slovenian alpinist was honored with the 14th Piolets d'Or Lifetime Achievement Award for his life's work. The awards ceremony will take place from November 17th to 20th in Briançon, France.

Taiwanese Grace Tseng reached the summit of Manaslu in just 4 hours on October 13th. This makes her the fastest woman to reach the summit of the eight-thousander without oxygen.

The professional climber and alpinist Filip Babicz sets a new speed record in the Mont Blanc massif: He scales the Grand Capucin rope-free in just 49 minutes. The standard time for the 570 meter high wall is eight hours.