Brauneck XC

Alastair BegleyBavaria, Paragliding Short Link

As winter has started to draw to an end, my attention is starting to turn back to XC paragliding. At the start of March we were treated to some very warm weather and acceptable flight conditions if the area was chosen correctly. I decided to head to my local site of Brauneck, and was pleased to find strong thermals and acceptable winds. After setting up I was soon up in the sky and feeling right back at home as I circled up in my first thermal. I soon headed along the Benediktenwand and enjoyed the brilliant views over the Kochel- and Walchen- see. Unfortunately I couldn’t climb up high enough to make it back, and wasn’t willing to commit to a deep line on my first flight of the season, so I elected to head north and see if I could make something else work. Unfortunately this didn’t work so I landed in a huge meadow and walked to catch a train back to Munich.

Hintertux Flight

Alastair BegleyAustria, Paragliding Short Link

While away in the Zillertal skiing for Becky’s birthday, I took the opportunity of a perfect weather day to fly down from the top of the Hintertux ski area. It is very rare to get conditions good enough given the high altitude location and complex wind conditions. We were also lucky that despite being half term week in a lot of Bavaria the slopes were very quiet. During the day I was lucky enough to get not just one but two flights down, which were both absolutely beautiful. The views were just stunning and it was great to get a different perspective on the ski area, after my first flight down I wasn’t really expecting to get another, but when we were getting towards the end of the day and the conditions still worked, I couldn’t help myself but to enjoy a second flight back down.

Wösterhorn (Wösterkopf) Skitour

Alastair BegleyAustria, Ski Touring Short Link

After munch debate about what we were going todo, on our second day in the Bregenzerwald we decided to head to the beautiful Lechtal with the objective as the Wösterhorn/Wösterkopf, which was an objectively very easy skitour, but it started high and we expected it to have fantastic views. The tour started easily out of the car park along a prepared piste which we followed for a few kilometers before branching off and heading off the beaten track. The initial ascent was wonderful with a beautifully made skin track which gently worked its way up the mountain with no need for any kick turns, as we climbed the terrain progressively became steeper and soon we were firmly in easy kick turn territory up to the Wöstersattel. The top of the ascent to the Wöstersattel became very cold as it was in the shade with a wind blowing down the slope, so it was great to emerge at the Wöstersattel and into the sun. From here the views up the Lechtal were absolutely beautiful and we could see north into Germany and the persistent inversion. From the Wöstersattel the ascent to. Read the full article…

Zafernhorn

Alastair BegleyAustria, Ski Touring Short Link

Following fresh snow in the week and with a sunny weekend forecast, Eric and I decided to head to the Vorarlberg for a weekend of ski touring. As we had both had busy weeks with business travel and long days, we set off from Munich relatively late, leaving at around 8am. This only left time for a relatively short ski tour and after some planning we decided to head to the Zafernhorn in the Bregenzerwald. The tour started easily up a Forststraße, from which we emerged with stunning views at a beautifully located hut. From there we continued up towards the summit with no particular difficulties, there was one steeper section where we had to remove our skis and walk up, but otherwise it was fairly straight forwards. When we set off there was no sign of an inversion, but as time progressed it moved slowly up the valley and provided a wonderful view. When we got to the summit there were a number of other teams there, enjoying lunch, but we just quickly took some photos and headed back down, not wanting the snow to become any wetter. After. Read the full article…

Wetterkreuzkogel Ski Tour

Alastair BegleyAustria, Ski Touring Short Link

After not getting to an actual summit yesterday due to the quantity of fresh snow no the ridge, I wanted to ensure that Katherine actually ski toured to her first proper summit today. I decided that with the snow conditions at the moment our best bet was to head back to the Wetterkreuzkogel, which I first did with Adam on a week long ski touring trip in 2019. We decided to go for an early start as some of the forecasts suggested that bad weather would come in around lunchtime, and it meant that the route would be quieter. It was another very cold morning, my car said -15 degrees as we were driving to the car park, and I think it was about -13 degrees where we parked. We took the phrase “be bold, start cold” to heart and were absolutely frozen as we left the car, but soon our cores warmed up as we climbed abruptly from the car up the twisty track in the forest, and eventually my fingers even warmed up. We emerged from the woods as the high cloud in the sky was being lit. Read the full article…

Kreuzjoch Ski Touring

Alastair BegleySki Touring Short Link

With a forecast for overnight snow, followed by sunshine at some point in the day, I decided to take Katherine on her first ski tour. As we left Munch in the morning, I knew we were heading to Kühtai, but had a number of different options in my mind based on the updated weather and avalanche forecasts. As we were driving towards Kühtai, it is safe to say that it was not looking positive with extensive cloud above us, although that was not too much of a surprise as we knew it was improving throughout the day. What was surprising was at how quickly it improved as we drove up the valley through Kühtai and drove though a temperature inversion. As we arrived in Kühtai to hire skis for Katherine the mountains were basking in sunshine, although it was very cold, I think the car read -8 degrees. I elected to head to Mitterzeigerkogel, as I knew most of the route from my previous tour in Kühtai, and I knew it was an easy tour up to the Kreuzjoch. We made great time on the ascent, despite it being Katherine’s. Read the full article…

2024 in 100 Photos

Alastair Begley100 Photos, Alpinism, Arco, Austria, Bavaria, France, India, Landscape, Mountain Biking, Paragliding, Rock Climbing, Scrambling, Ski Touring, Skiing, Via Ferrata, Walking, Wildlife Short Link

It seems hard to believe that another year has passed by, but having just had another overindulgent Christmas and new year it is somehow already time to summarise the year in another 100 photos. It was a very busy year with both free time activities and work with many more business trips for me than usual. Winter The year started off with the ski season, we did a lot of alpine skiing and certainly made the most of our Tirol cards, I think I did around 25 days overall! Becky’s skiing has continued to improve and this led us todo our first ski tour on the Kleiner Gamsstein. Unfortunately the snow over the winter was difficult for ski touring, especially for beginners so there was limited ski touring for both Becky and me. I managed one ski mountaineering weekend, but we suffered with terrible snow conditions as well as weather. It was nonetheless enjoyable to spend a weekend high in the mountains. Spring It soon turned to spring, which was unfortunately a bit of a washout along with the start of the summer. This resulted in us not spending that. Read the full article…

Hike and Fly from Offa’s Dyke back to my parent’s house

Alastair BegleyParagliding Short Link

I flew back to the UK for Christmas with my hike and fly gear on the off chance that the weather would allow some kind of hike and fly, which seemed unlikely given the forecast when we left Germany, and became even more unlikely as our time in the UK progressed. However despite the Boxing Day forecast being for extensive fog, this was initially constrained to lower in the valley than my parents house. With some cautious optimism we quickly drove around the valley and walked up the Red Darren to Offa’s Dyke. As we were walking up there was definitely a catabatic wind, however thankfully as we approached the top this was significantly weaker. After setting up we all took off and enjoyed the flight back to land in the field next to my parents’ house, which on my hike&fly gear I only just made!