From Northern Norway this last week where solar flares boosted this atmospheric light show.

Black Diamond athlete Adam Ondra has recently focused his energies to the world of bouldering, and the results have been stunning. This December, fresh off his second ascent of Gioia in Italy (at 8C+, one of the hardest boulder problems in the world), Adam set off for his first-ever visit to the iconic boulders of Fontainebleau, France.

  "We went to Bas Cuvier parking where we had a meeting with the man of the forest: Jacky Godoffe. It was very inspiring to see him bouldering, being as psyched as ever even after so many years in the forest. I wanted to do some real classic and that is definitely La Merveille (8A). This is amazing prow with the high, but safe crux on the top. Jacky gave me some good beta and I flashed it! Funny thing was that when I latched the lip, I got just slopper a couple centimeters below the real jug and hung there for a second, having no clue what to do or if I was about to fall. From the ground, I might have seemed pretty relaxed and I heard Jacky as a spotter saying OK and going away. In that moment I squealed a desperate “No!“ and I felt that my spotter returned and I could stabilize myself again to do a final bump into the real jug. The end of the day was spent by trying C'etait Demain, the first 8A in the forest in 1984 and also established by Jacky. This was a hard one, and I spent about 20 tries on it, trying and trying again and getting desperately close to doing these two crux moves. Jacky tried with me and we had a plenty of fun, laughing at the precision and coordination this problem requires. In the end, I made it up this blank overhanging wall." Adam Ondra  12/2011

One last day. My goal for the season was to flash an 8B+, but within autumn having too many projects, I abandoned this idea and gave it up for the year. But one problem came on my mind, Gecko. My friend Andrej Chrastina told me about it 5 years ago, when I did bouldering very rarely. Andrej was persuading me to go to Font to try this problem, saying that it would fit my style very well. A last day of climbing of 2011... why not give it a try to fulfill my goal of the year? All the other goals for the year I had already managed to fulfill (excluding competitions).

The day didn't start in the best way: after cleaning the gite and getting lost and searching for the bloc in the wood from a different parking, we arrived in the sector a little while after noon, already tired after the beginning of the day and after the climbing the previous day. I took some warm up, not feeling very well, but having a lot of psych thanks to cold conditions. I tried to remember the video from the previous night, asked my friends to clean the holds that I couldn't reach from the pads and I set off. First two moves were OK, then it was very hard to move left heel to the left. I was very close to falling, feeling that I was loosing a balance for a moment, but somehow I stayed on the rock. There is a one thing that I really love in climbing: heel hooking. And the rest of the problem is about awkward heelhooks and I felt pretty solid. The last hard movement I shrieked, but I was almost sure I would do it. I felt unstoppable at that very moment.

Font is an incredible place and the beauty of climbing there was even better than I had hoped. It is definitely, the best bouldering area I have ever visited."

World Cup and Ouray Ice Competition Champion, Ines Papert climbs ice buildings at a winter festival in China in January of 2012.

This video is a collaboration between Sheldon Neill and Colin Delehanty.

Project Yosemite Website: http://projectyose.com

Our hearts go out to the families of Markus Praxmarer who lost his life while climbing Half Dome on September 19th, 2011 and Ranger Ryan Hiller, who was crushed by a tree January 22nd, 2012. They will be missed.

“In any human endeavor, some fraction of it's practitioners will be motivated to pursue that activity with such concentrated focus and unalloyed passion that it will consume them utterly. As a result of this infatuation, existence overflows with purpose. Through immoderation, he experiences something akin to rapture."  J.K.

Yosemite Valley has long been regarded as the holy land for climbers and boulderers throughout the world. The origins of rock climbing lie in the 3000-foot granite walls lining the valley and the boulders that sit strewn about below these staggering monoliths.   In the late weeks of November, the Louder Than 11 crew gathered from all corners of the country to experience Yosemite Valley bouldering. As a group of passionate individuals, we enveloped ourselves in the landscape for two weeks, attacking boulders as if tomorrow would never come. On the surface, the very foundation of our identities is built on rock climbing—a sport that we believe is the greatest on the planet—but there is much more to this seemingly inherent addiction than meets the eye.

With Park Life, we strive to answer this age-old, omnipresent question: Why? By combining difficult climbing, captivating visuals, and engaging music under the all-encompassing umbrella of a professional production company, we hope to portray a unique lifestyle that has given us all a palpable sense of unwavering purpose. The long-lasting friendships, incessant failure and equally abundant success, reckless commitment and dedication driven to the point of complete and utter irresponsibility; it’s an eternal battle. We do it because we love it.  At Louder Than 11, our media is always free, whether you like it or not.

Steve House free-soloing the mixed routes Repentance and Remission in North Conway, New Hampshire.

World-Cup competitor Emily Harrington shares her thoughts on  the new experience of ice climbing and the trust needed to successfully send an ice climb.  Climber Sam Elias provides his insight and mentorship on this highly technical climbing style.

Sam Elias on Red Bull and Vodka; an impressive mixed climb in Vail that ventures out a hundred and twenty feet of tiered roof madness. The climb overhangs over fifty feet and finishes on the Fang, one of the most iconic ice climbs in the world.

Sam Elias shares on his experiences with ice climbing :  A dangerous, engaging, creative, and highly technical climbing style.