First summitter of Kanchenjunga dies

Patron and former President of the British Mountaineering Council (BMC), George Band, who made the first ascent of Kanchenjunga and was on the 1953 Everest expedition, died on August 26 at his home. Read the obituary on the BMC website....

Who is eligible for hut reciprocity discounts?

There are almost 1,200 mountain huts offering accommodation for a total of 66,000 people in the entire alpine region – from Slovenia to France, including the Pyrenees. Those eligible to benefit from reciprocity are offered the same overnight rates as members of the hut-owning associations;...

The facts and economics of mountaineering in Nepal

Ang Tshering Sherpa, Immediate Past President of the Nepal Mountaineering Association provides detailed mountaineering facts and figures in Nepal. His exhaustive study not only provides statistics and highlights exceptional climbs but also tries to show the economic importance of the sport to Nepal’s economy. Here...

Members see UIAA as modern and reliable

Earlier this year, the UIAA asked Member Federations to help define the future direction of the international mountaineering body over the next five years. The results of the survey are encouraging with more than 75 per cent of UIAA Members taking the time to complete the...

French mountaineers publish manifesto

The French Mountaineering and Climbing Federation and other key mountaineering and climbing stakeholders in France have published a manifesto to promote a common vision for the future of mountain practices: This manifesto (Assises de l'Alpinisme. Read English version here) is the result of the work initiated...

Accidents in climbing halls on rise

The Legal Experts Working Group of the UIAA has published a paper on the growing number of accidents at indoor climbing facilities. The following is the group's observations: Over the last 20 years many climbing halls have been built and indoor climbing is the training venue...

2012 Ice Climbing World Cup schedule announced

he schedule for the 2012 Ice Climbing World Cup events has been announced. On January 14 and 15, the season will kick off for the second year in a row with Lead and Speed competitions in Cheongsong, Korea, hosted by the Korean Alpine Federation. This event will also...

Via ferrata systems and plastic chocks to be tested

The growing popularity of via ferrate among families with small children and the advent of climbing chocks made with polymers will lead to new testing and investigations by the UIAA Safety Commission (SafCom). At its annual meeting in Yverdon-les-Bains, Switzerland in late May, the expert panel...

French efforts to maintain freedom of risk taking

The following article was provided to the UIAA by Annibale Salsa, past president of Italy's CAI, Claudio Picco and Carlo Zanantoni. It is a summary of a recent mountaineering symposium in Grenoble, France and touches upon the issue of restrictions on the freedoms of access...

Eco Everest Expedition 2011 successful

The Eco Everest Expedition 2011, under the leadership of Dawa Steven Sherpa, succeeded in efforts to clean and collect garbage, debris and waste left by past expedition groups. The following report was provided by Dawa Steven's father, Ang Tshering Sherpa, of the Nepal Mountaineering Association, and...