This is the first Winter Ascent Ever - 2nd February 2011. A great video from The North Face. The North Face® athletes Simone Moro, Denis Urubko and Cory Richards. On the 2nd of February 2011, they made history with the over 8000m winter summit of GII in Karakorum.

Erhard Loretan passed away, on a day similar to many of his others. He was ascending, with a client, the summit ridge of Grünhorn (4043m) in the Bernese Alps, in his Switzerland, when it happened. A gust of wind, or snow collapsing underfoot, or something which perhaps we'll never know, proved fatal: Erhard has left us forever, while his client is currently in critical condition in hospital. In or what might be one of life's ironies, yesterday happened to be Loretan's 52nd birthday. A special day which he celebrated as normal: in the mountains, doing a job which coincided with his greatest love. Yes, because Loretan was certainly a great alpinist (one of the greatest of the modern era) but also an impassioned Mountain Guide.

From the film "Swiss Machine", part of the 2010 Reel Rock Tour and created by Sender Films.

Climbing in May 2011 on the Greek island Kalymnos. Also featuring Nicolas Favresse & Patxi Usobiaga who visited the island during Kalymnos Climbing Festival. Seen here climbing Raptor 8a at Jurassic Park.

Part one of this video guide deals with selecting the rock, drilling the hole and preparing it for gluing. This process is for titanium bolts glued with RE-500 resin, the premiere sport climbing protection. Same procedure can be used on most glue bolts.
Part two of this video guide deals with preparing the resin cartridges, installing the anchor and final touches. This process is for titanium bolts glued with RE-500 resin, the premiere sport climbing protection. 

Nicolas Favresse continues to forage new lines in Kalymnos. Fresh from his spate of new big walls in Pakistan's Charakusa Valley, the Belgian travelled to the Greek island to free Inshallah 8c/8c+. The new route is a powerful roof traverse through the first cave in the North Cape sector and is Favresse's second 8c+ on Kalymnos this year: in May he freed Gora gu ta gutarrak in the Odyseey sector, repeated by Steve McClure a month ago. Although not entirely sure about the grade (this awaits confirmation), Nicolas commented:  "I'm really happy about this new route. Not just for the difficulty, but because it's an incredible climb. The line, the moves, the location, the rock...it's one of the best sport climbs I have ever done."

In the summer of 2010, Iker and Eneko Pou decided to visit legends. Travelling the Alps in their camper van, they met the godfathers that changed climbing forever.
Walking on the footsteps of Manolo, Alex Huber and Beat Kammerlander, they repeated some of the most iconic routes in the history of big-wall climbing: itineraries that show the way to the new generations.

First demo-trailer from the documentary ENCORDADES (2011) featuring Helena Alemán, Ester Sabadell, Mònica Verge, Elisabet Vergès and Carme Romeu.

In summer 2010, Lorna Illingworth, Madaleine Sorkin and I spent 25 days in the Cirque of the Unclimbables, Northwest Territories, Canada. Our goal was to free climb the entire 1963 Original Route on the sheer 2000' Southeast Face of Proboscis, and grants from the American Alpine Club encouraged us to document the adventure. The result: Women at Work (VI 5.12 R).

For the past 26 years 16 expeditions have tried and failed to climb one of pakistan's 8,000 meter peaks in winter. On february 2, 2011, Simone Moro, Denis Urubko and Cory Richards became the first. Cory is now the only american to summit any 8,000 meter peak in winter. The journey nearly killed them. Cory carried a small camera and filmed the ordeal constantly. This is their story, as seen from the raw, honest perspective of cory's lens.