Paragliding 94km from Wallberg to Saalfelden

Alastair BegleyAustria, Bavaria, Paragliding Short Link

With a moderate westerly wind I decided to head back to Wallberg to fly as far east as I could. Unfortunately I wasn’t feeling that well in the morning, so I wasn’t entirely sure how the flight was going to go, but thankfully by the time I took off my stomach seemed to have recovered. The initial part of the flight went pretty quickly and I was soon high above Wallberg and ready to set off to the east and with just a few more climb I was high above the Großer Traithon and ready for the very long valley crossing over the Inntal. The view of the main alpine ridge on this first section was really wonderful, as the air was much clearer than it often is, and there were not too many clouds to block to the view. I arrived fairly early at the Zahmer Kaiser, so it took me a while to climb back up on the shady side, however eventually I was above the Zahmer Kaiser and ready to head to Kössen. At Kössen my progress dramatically slowed as the wind was very unpleasant, it was. Read the full article…

100km FAI triangle from Kössen

Alastair BegleyAustria, Paragliding Short Link

With a decent forecast I dug out a route which I had planned a few years ago, but never had the chance to properly fly. It was ambitious for the day as it would have been around 130km if it was fully closed, however the forecast made attempting it reasonable, even it I expected that there was a good chance for a bomb out part way around. We decided to head up to the upper launch at Kössen as, in my experience, it is typically easier to start early here by flying around to the south face. After getting to the top and casually setting up our gear it looked like the day was starting so we launched and quickly made a climb up to cloud base from the eastern face. Thankfully it as still quiet at this point, but I set off quickly from cloudbase as lots of people were now starting to climb up. The start of the route along the Steinplatte was easy with strong climbs and cloudsuck making for quick progress, the next challenge was the crossing above Lofer, so after gaining as much height as. Read the full article…

Vorderes Sonnwendjoch and Rofanspitze

Alastair BegleyAustria, Walking Short Link

With a lovely forecast Becky and I decided to make the best use of our winter ski passes and use them to head up the Rofanbahn on the last weekend of validity. Unfortunately on the drive there it became clear that the weather was not as good as it was forecast. We decided to do a circuit from the Vorderes Sonnwendjoch, Sagzahn and Rofanspitze, and I planned to fly off from the Rofanspitze with my hike&fly gear. As we got to the top of the lift we emerged from the cloud to be treated to a wonderful view of the Karwendel and shortly after the Tuxer Alpen. We had hoped that we would stay out of the cloud as we were above it, but unfortunately this was not going to be the case and as we started the descent to the Schermsteinalm we descended back into the cloud. As we approached the summit of the Vorderes Sonnwendjoch we briefly left the cloud, which allowed us to enjoy the views before it decided that it would make an unwelcome reappearance. From Sagzahn we again had not much of a view, so. Read the full article…

Wallberg to Kössen and onto Obersee

Alastair BegleyAustria, Bavaria, Paragliding Short Link

I wasn’t planning on flying on the day, but due to a last minute change of plan I ended up heading to Wallberg to attempt the classic Wallberg-Kössen xc route, with a slightly unclear forecast due to the amount of wind. It took a while for the day to get started, so we sat and watched some fairly chaotic scenes at the take off as the main take off was closed and it was quite windy for beginners. Eventually people seemed to be climbing away so I decided to start and eventually managed to climb high enough above Wallberg to make the first transition, but not as high as I would have liked to be. After this transition I arrived very low to the ridge and there was very weak lift which didn’t go very high, I sat around in this for a while to try and catch a good cycle, and eventually this happened which resulted me climbing through the inversion and then I was properly on my way. From this point onwards the flying was much easier and with only a few more climbs I arrived at the. Read the full article…

144km from the Zillertal to Zell am See and back

Alastair BegleyAustria, Paragliding Short Link

With another great day forecast a group of 5 of us headed to the Zillertal with the aim of flying from the Zillertal to Zell am See and then back again. The day started off somewhat eventfully as unfortunately one of my flying friends had to throw his reserve above launch, but thankfully he was ok and was able to confirm this over the radio so we didn’t need to go and land to check. After climbing to 3000m we set off on the first very long transition over the other side of the Zillertal, this was always a risky move early in the day as you either fly to west facing slopes which are slow to start, or south facing slopes which are often in the lee. Unfortunately here the group separated with one of us bombing out and people moving at their own pace as we took the slow climbs back up to altitude. Once I was back at altitude everything started working well and I was soon on my way, on full speed bar between climbs. The views flying through the Gerlos pass were beautiful and before. Read the full article…

Attempting the Karwendel Dreieck

Alastair BegleyAustria, Bavaria, Paragliding Short Link

With a great forecast I decided to take the day off and attempt the classic Karwendel Dreieck, a ~100km FAI triangle from my local paragliding site. It was my first attempt so all of the route was totally new for me, with some of the greater challenges towards the start with long transitions over some smaller hills. I was desperately hoping that I didn’t bomb out after the first transition. On arriving at Brauneck it was clear that the day was already “on” and people were already heading off on the xc adventures for the day. I quickly set my gear up and was soon in the air. The start of the flight went very well and I was soon well above Brauneck and off on my way south on the first transition. I was intentionally taking my time as I knew that there was a long day and I didn’t want to make a mistake due to rushing, especially on the first section. Thankfully in these conditions everything was working well and I was really enjoying the flying in the strong conditions, with integrated climbs of up to 6m/s.. Read the full article…

Zillertal Paragliding

Alastair BegleyAustria, Paragliding Short Link

I had organised to test the Skywalk Sage from Flugschule Hochries, unfortunately for the duration of the time I had the test wing the flying weather was very suboptimal. The only window turned out to be on the last day I had the glider, although the forecast was still fairly dubious with lots of cloud in the forecast but a good airmass. As it was still only the end of April the road to the Melchboden start was not yet open, however our taxi driver thought that the gate may have been open already, so we took a chance and drop up to the gate. Unfortunately we found that it was locked shut, so we got out of the taxi ready to walk the last few km, however as we were repacking our bags for the walk someone from the alm at the starting place turned up with a key and agreed to give us all a lift which was great. The conditions at the start were great with good climbs, a high base and no too much wind. We made the decision to fly towards Hintertux and then see. Read the full article…

Heuberg

Alastair BegleyGermany, Walking Short Link

Despite a dodgy forecast for the day we were keen to do something, after waking up it became clear that the best weather of the day was going to be later on, so we decided to head for a short evening walk up Heuberg. The majority of the ascent was in the woods, so the cloud made little difference to the views. However, unfortunately as we emerged onto the ridge we also ascended into the cloud, which meant that we were unfortunately lacking a view. As we were waiting on the summit the clouds started to lift and give is fleeting glimpses of the views which one could normally expect from this peak. We enjoyed some food on the summit before starting the descent, aiming for an alm for a drink and some Kaiserschmarrn. The descent was very muddy which made it slow going as it was very slippery, however we made it to the alm in good time to have a drink prior to its closing time.