Kleine Cirspitze Klettersteig

Alastair BegleyItaly, Via Ferrata Short Link

Due to both feeling a bit drained we were after a short day, so headed up to the Gardena Pass to do the Kleine Cirzpitze Klettersteig. We started the day off by enjoying some coffee and cake by the car park, while I tried to summon motivation to head out, which thankfully I managed to. The walk in was very short, but with wonderful views, as one would expect for the Dolomites. We were late enough starting that most of the route was pretty quiet, until we caught up with one very slow team. Thankfully eventually they let us past and we made good time up to the summit. We enjoyed lunch just below the summit on an outcrop of rock and admired the view, before making the quick descent back down. The route was as expected, an enjoyable way to spend a few hours, but nothing to write home about compared to some of the longer and more remote routes in the area, but it fitted exactly what we needed for the day. On the way back down we stopped for a drink, and perhaps some more cake, I. Read the full article…

Sellajoch Landscapes

Alastair BegleyItaly, Landscape Short Link

After having a wonderful flight in the Dolomites, we were lucky enough to get a place at one of the official places to camp in a camper van at the top of the Sella Pass. It is quite expensive at 25 euros overnight, and other 25 euros for the next day, however the location is pretty special. After we had enjoyed food, had a shower and chilled out with some wine, we opened the door and were treated to a very special view of the Langkofel at night with the Milky Way above. The night photo below was taken literally from outside the van door. This set the scene for the next morning, as at this point I definitely had to get up for sunrise, despite the fact that my body was screaming for a lie in. The night came and went with some pretty poor sleep due to a combination of the altitude and the noise from very early of cars driving to the building site. I reluctantly climbed out of bed and made my way out into the cold morning air. I am very glad I did as. Read the full article…

Gitschberg and Seefeld See

Alastair BegleyItaly, Paragliding, Walking Short Link

Having aborted on this walk a few days ago due to the van breaking down, with an excellent forecast this was the obvious choice for the day while we were staying in Mühlbach, with the added advantage that the lifts were free. We started the walk with a traverse around the top of the Altfasstal to the Seefeld See. This was really beautiful with stunning views down the gorgeous valley, I had been carrying my glider with me for a flight down at the end of the day, but I had been quietly wondering if I would also be able to fly down from Seefeld See. Any doubts I had about this were soon quashed as we saw a glider doing exactly that while we were still heading to the lake. As we emerged above the lake we had a lovely view down on the lake, before we descended to walk around it. Around the lake we were in the sun and outside of the breeze so it was very warm and inviting for a quick swim, needless to say that the water was pretty cold! After drying off and. Read the full article…

Stoanamandl

Alastair BegleyItaly, Walking Short Link

One of the obvious walks from Mühlbach was directly up the ridge from the town to Stoanamandl via the Altes Karl. As we were staying in Mühlbach we also had the advantage that the ski lifts in Vals were free, so we also could take the lift back down. We started by taking the bus up to Spinges, and from here we took one of the lesser travelled paths which was overgrown in places with a few fallen trees, when we got to the top we found that it looked like it was shut… We were very surprised on the way up to stumble on some old bunkers from WWII which were very impressive and a nice breather from the continuous ascent. The walk was really a walk of two halves, with the first half being pretty much purely exercise, and the second half being all about the views with not much exercise. As we ascended we had fleeting views out of the forest until we climbed to the top of the main tree line, at which point the views opened up and were really beautiful and varied. We could. Read the full article…

Plose Hike&Fly (Brixen)

Alastair BegleyItaly, Paragliding, Walking Short Link

On our second unplanned day in Brixen due to clutch issues we decided to climb the obvious peak which towers above the town, Plose (Telegraph), as it looked beautiful with its red flanks in the evening sun the day before. We dropped the van off at a garage in Brixen, hoping that it was just the master cylinder which needed replacing as this was an easy job, unlike the slave cylinder. An easy bus ride took us up to the seilbahn before we walked along a traversing line to the north towards the Ochsenalm. As we traversed around the mountain the views kept getting better and better as we emerged out of the forest and the path turned to face more into the Pustertal. From the Ochsenalm the main ascent really started and this meant that the views just kept getting better and better. The final section of the route was up a lovely ridge to the summit of Telegraph, aptly named due to the infrastructure on the summit! Unfortunately the entire day was fairly cloudy which impacted the views, however we enjoyed the fleeting views in between the clouds. Read the full article…

Neustift Vineyards

Alastair BegleyItaly Short Link

We had an unplanned stay in Neustift near Brixen due to some clutch issues with the van. We stayed at the wonderful Griesserhof which only cost us the price of two bottles of their wine, which really was very good. On the Sunday we did a short walk around the local vineyards, with plenty of sampling en route, and we can safely say that the wine was all very good, but the best wine definitely came from the Griesserhof. We enjoyed our two nights there, even if the second was unplanned and due to having a broken van, and will definitely be back as it is a great place to stop en-route to/from the Dolomites or Lake Garda.

Birnhorn Überschreitung Hike&Fly

Alastair BegleyAustria, Paragliding, Walking Short Link

Having booked the Passauer Hütte months ago we were excited that it looked like we had a perfect weather weekend as we approached the trip, and I was even happier that it looked like it should work for a hike&fly to save me about 1800hm of descent. After some discussions we settled on the northern approach to the hut as despite having 300hm more of ascent, it was a lot more gradual and on a better path, which got the vote for the descent. The start of the approach was up through the woods, however as we climbed higher we started other get fleeting views to the north into the Steinernes Meer. Eventually we emerged out of the woods and could enjoy the view fully, and it really was spectacular. As we arrived at the col by the hut we were suddenly greeted with the view south towards the main alpine ridge, something which was great to suddenly emerge and see in one go. We enjoyed our afternoon sitting on the veranda at the hut while eating some food, having a few drinks and soaking in the wonderful view. After. Read the full article…

Mittenwald Höhenweg Klettersteig&Fly

Alastair BegleyBavaria, Paragliding Short Link

Having last completed the Mittenwald Höhenweg shortly after having moved to Munich 5 years ago, we decided to head back to do it again as we had enjoyed it so much last time, however this time I had a plan to save on the descent by flying off from the German/Austrian border back down to Mittenwald. We were expecting the route to be busy, given that it was still the school holidays and it was the only nice day of the weekend, but we were not quite prepared for how busy the route would actually be. We arrived at the lift station and were ready for 9am, however we had to queue for sometime as the lift was so busy. As we left the lift station we eagerly climbed the first section so that we would emerge from the shade into the sun, especially me as I was still in a t-shirt. Thankfully it did not take us long to emerge into the sunshine, however at this point we saw how many people were gearing up for the klettersteig. We joined the crowds and patiently waited in the queue, as. Read the full article…