A variety of climbs on different mediums this week: rock, ice, snow and...concrete.

Aidan Roberts on form with 8B+ and 8C first Ascents

An on-form Aidan Roberts has added a sit start to Leopold Von Buch (f7C) 7C at Carrock Fell Crag to create Leopold von Pooch ~8C. The following week, Aidan made the first ascent of Truffles on Bicycles ~8B+ at  Langstrath Boulders.

Jacopo Larcher repeats Bernd Zangerl's Into the Sun 8c+ trad/highball

Italian athlete Jacopo Larcher has made the second ascent of Bernd Zangerl's Into the sun (f8C+) in Murgltal, Switzerland, The line involves two V12 boulder cruxes up to a protectable crack nine metres off the floor before a committing top-out.

The Great Rift - New 2500ft Horizontal Bridge Crack ticked by the WideBoyz

Tom Randall and Pete Whittaker have completed a mega 2500ft long (the length of Half Dome) bridge crack project in Exeter. The line — featuring varying crack widths and vibration caused by moving traffic overhead — took the pair five visits to complete. On their successful traverse over four days and three nights, the duo climbed in team free style, meaning that one person led, the second aided, then they swung leads.

Pete wrote on Instagram:

'We lost count of the number of pitches and the grade of each one. But if anyone is interested then the guidebook description would read something like: The Great Rift - Follow the crack, 7b+ to 8a+ x 60-70 pitches. Take 12 Blues, 10 Golds, goggles and a lot of tape.'

Stay tuned for an interview with Pete and Tom...

Ukrainian Team make First Ascent of Southeast Ridge of Annapurna III (7555m)

A team of three Ukrainian mountaineers recently made the long-awaited first ascent of the ~2300m long Southeast Ridge of Annapurna III (7555m). Nikita Balabanov and Mikhail Fomin (both past Piolet d'Or winners) and Viacheslav Polezhaiko climbed the line and descended over 18 days in total, with just 12 days of food in tow. The rock en-route is notoriously loose, while seracs hang over the steep ridge line.

In 1981, a British team consisting of Nick Colton, Steve Bell and Tim Leach reached 6500m before retreating due to extreme weather conditions — a feat only marginally surpassed by Austrian alpinists David Lama, Alex Blumel and Hansjörg Auer in 2016.

The Ukrainian team has first attempted the line in 2019. Stay tuned for more information from the team.