A Fantastic Day Skiing at Glencoe Mountain

Alastair BegleyScotland, Sports Short Link

With a good forecast but a high freezing level and lots of fresh snow around we decided that we didn’t want to be wading around in deep snow or getting up early after the previous day on Ben Nevis. Due to this we decided to go to Glencoe Mountain Resort for some skiing, which turned out to be a fantastic decision. After queueing for 1h30 to get our hire kit we eventually got on the chairlift and headed up to the ski area, the snow cover was fantastic. Unlike last time all the runs were open and you could see the summit. In the morning there were long queues for the chairlift due to the main basin t-bar being shut so I stayed on the upper mountain where there we only small queues. In the afternoon the main basin t-bar opened and meant that the queues on the lower mountain reduced significantly. The snow quality was fantastic and in the afternoon I managed two runs from the summit to the bottom of main basin almost on entirely virgin snow! At the end of the day I got one of the. Read the full article…

Swimming up Jubilee Climb

Alastair BegleyScotland, Winter Climbing Short Link

With the weather forecast to be better today, and the best day for the forceable future, we decided to head up Ben Nevis and see if we could find something to climb. Due to not knowing what we were doing we ended up taking in a full rack, of which we used very little… However, as there were three of us the weight was distributed well. The weather in the morning was horrible, for almost the entire walk up to the CIC hut we were in the wind and fairly heavy rain, which meant that by the time were were there we were feeling pretty miserable and seriously considered bailing on the whole idea. After some motivation from me once my hands warmed up we decided to carry on up into Coire na Ciste, this was very hard going for the person breaking the trail, with drifts up to waist deep in places! Once we got near to the base of number 5 gully we made the decision that we didn’t want to continue any higher into the coire due to it being very hard going and the avalanche risk. Read the full article…

The Zig Zags on Gearr Aonach

Alastair BegleyScotland, Winter Climbing Short Link

Having arrived in Scotland late last night after a very long drive up, we were determined to do something today despite the forecast of a high freezing level, strong winds and constant precipitation for a few hours.We decided to head up the Zig Zags on Gearr Aonach in order to head into Stob Corrie nan Lochan in order to get an idea of what the snowpack was looking like.After a short walk up we soon arrived at the snowline which was at around 350m. The route was fun, with a good cover of soft snow which meant that winter kit wasn’t needed until near the top. It was a bit of a slog up from the top of the Zigzags to the summit of Gearr Aonach, however the views up Glencoe were fantastic! Once we got to the summit, it was pretty hard going all the way along the ridge due to the soft snow. However once we approached Corrie nan Lochan a crust started to appear on the snow. We had planned on heading to the other side of the corrie and looking at the snow there, however once. Read the full article…

A fantastic 2013 in 100 Photos

Alastair Begley100 Photos, Alpinism, Equestrian, Landscape, Mountaineering, Rock Climbing, Scrambling, Walking, Winter Climbing Short Link

Somehow we are already at the end of another year, and what a fantastic year it has been! I have somehow summed up my year in 100 photos again. The photos make it look like I didn’t do much rock climbing this year, but that is just that I don’t tend to take my camera to the local crags where I spent a silly amount of evenings in May and June. In total this year I managed 125 trad climbs, 30 winter climbs, 7 walks, 6 alpine routes, 3 scrambles, 2 sport climbs, 2 caving trips and 2 via ferratas. I have had such a good year that summarising the high points was pretty challenging: Despite having a generally fantastic year, there were certainly some less good moments: Late January in South Wales At the end of January there was the first proper cold spell of 2013 which extended down to South Wales. During this spell I managed three days out in south wales where I managed to climb four routes. A Week in Fort William: 9th-16th Feb The beginning of February soon arrived, and with it the start of a. Read the full article…

Sunrise and Sunset in the Mountains

Alastair BegleyAlpinism, Mountaineering, Scrambling, Walking, Winter Climbing Short Link

After the fantastic summer we had where I was incredibly busy, I am making the most of this Autumnal weather and resting in preparation for the upcoming winter season. However I am getting “mountain withdrawal” so have been going through my past photos, due to this there will be a few themed blog posts appearing over the next month. If you spend enough time in the mountains you will be fortunate enough to experience some fantastic sunrise and sunsets, weather they are planned due to long days or unplanned due to epics. This post is focussing on times where I have experienced either sunrise or sunset in the mountains, or on some occasions both! Snowdon Horseshoe During March 2012 we set out late in the morning to climb Snowdon via the classic Crib Goch ridge, as the day progressed the weather continually improved and we were having a fantastic time. Despite it being late by the time we were finally on a quiet summit we decided to carry on and complete the full Snowdon horseshoe due to the fantastic conditions. The sun set as we were descending off the final. Read the full article…

An Afternoon Amble around the Peak

Alastair BegleyWalking Short Link

I was recently up in Derbyshire visiting some friends and to make the most of the beautiful autumnal weather we went for an amble around the Peak on the Sunday. We started at Grindon and headed down to Thor’s cave before heading up to the pub in Wetton for a pub lunch. It has been a while since I have done any walking in the Peak and I had forgotten how beautiful the countryside is, a bit different to the mountains that I love but excellent for a sunday walk.

Rock Climbing on Lundy Island

Alastair BegleyRock Climbing Short Link

Lundy is one of the places I have wanted to climb ever since I started climbing, this is due to a few reasons. Firstly, I have heard lots of great things about it from my parents over the years and secondly, I love sea cliff climbing to so the idea of going to an island and climbing is brilliant. Due to injury and the alps with just over a month to go until the trip I hadn’t climbed for almost two months, and when I started climbing again I felt very weak. Due to wanting to get the most out of the trip I started training a lot, and it seemed to work as by the time I was in Lundy I was feeling pretty strong. The boat ride out in the fog was fairly rough and there were a few moments where I felt pretty touch and go, however I made it across and fixed myself up with a full english breakfast at the pub on Lundy. After we had dumped some stuff at the accommodation we headed off to the Flying Buttress to climb Horseman’s Route in the. Read the full article…

Two weeks in the Valais Alps

Alastair BegleyAlpinism, Switzerland Short Link

I have just returned from my annual Alps trip, this year I headed to Saas Grund in the Swiss Alps with the Avon Mountaineering Club. It was an amazing but very tiring two weeks which involved eight peaks, 5 of which were above 4000m and I climbed my first two AD routes. In addition to the climbing we had plenty of enjoyment in the valley with a few meals out and a night out in Saas Fee. The peaks I climbed during the trip are: Stellihorn – North West Flank To get to the alps we decided to leave on Friday evening and drive through the night, this drive went very smoothly and we arrived at 11am after having only had a few hours sleep during the drive. Instead of relaxing at the campsite we decided that it would be a good idea to walk up to a bivi site to sleep up high while we were tired before climbing the Stellihorn the next day to continue acclimatising.During the walk up to the bivi site it looked like some weather might be coming in from Italy but we were hoping. Read the full article…