Direkter Ostgrat Blankenstein

Alastair BegleyBavaria, Rock Climbing Short Link

With a cloudy forecast we set off to climb an easy multipitch route on the Blankenstein, near Tegernsee. I was keen to do this route, having previously admired the Blankenstein while doing a winter circuit of the Risserkogel and Wallberg with James. We were supposed to be meeting with some friends from the IMG, however due to S-Bahn cancellations they were very delayed, so we set off alone as we didn‘t want to wait for 90mins in the car park! The walk up was very straightforward and we made excellent time, the conditions were however worse than we were expecting! The temperatures were somewhat different to what we have had to become accustomed to recently! Despite the odd spit of rain, and the cold conditions we decided to set off anyway. One of the crux moves was the move off the ground, which was made harder by not being able to feel anything in my fingers having waited for the team in front of us to get to the first belay after getting lost! Once the first move had been dispatched, the rest of the pitch was a delicate traverse,. Read the full article…

Mutterberger See

Alastair BegleyAustria, Walking Short Link

After paragliding in the morning we needed to find a short walk to do in the afternoon, so that we could be back before the forecasted thunderstorms in the afternoon. The obvious choice was a walk from our local lift, the Elferbahn, but as we climbed on the Elferturm a few days previously, we decided to get the bus all the way up the valley and walk up to the Mutterberger See. The start of the walk up was very hot and up a fairly uninspiring large track, but after about 60% of the ascent we finally turned off onto smaller walking paths and the views became a lot better. We enjoyed some lunch while admiring the view down the valley, before continuing onto the lake. We took the opportunity to cool down and both enjoyed a refreshing swim in the surprisingly warm mountain like at 2500m. After drying off and finishing our lunch we set off on the descent, which was lovely as it contoured around up high with wonderful views down the Stubai valley. Unfortunately the day was getting hotter and muggier which meant that we were both. Read the full article…

Paragliding over the Stubai Glaciers

Alastair BegleyAustria, Paragliding Short Link

With a perfect forecast for paragliding I set off with high expectations, my primary plan was to fly over the Stubai glaciers and get back to Neustift, however my secondary goal was a self planned 60km closed FAI triangle. This was my first real attempt at a decent length FAI triangle which actually had a reasonable chance of success, and certainly my first which wasn’t a route copied from others. This was actually my third attempt in a week to fly to the glacier, but it was the first with a good chance of success. I was really pleased to complete the triangle, as it made it my first route over 50km (64km) and my first closed FAI triangle, which combined with the views, made it a very memorable flight and certainly my most enjoyable to date. The flight can be viewed on XContest and Ayvri. On the first attempt we took off with a very low base, and at the point of the first valley crossing we knew that the probability of making the glacier was vanishingly small. However this still provided useful knowledge to help with future flights.. Read the full article…

Große Ochsenwand Klettersteig

Alastair BegleyAustria, Via Ferrata Short Link

We chose to climb the Große Ochsenwand (or Schlicker) Klettersteig today, as it was a beautiful but very hot day and we thought that getting up high would help reduce the impact of the heat, how wrong we were. It was also a route without much time for being slow, as the guidebook time was 7 hours, and there was only 7.5 hours from first lift to last lift! The day started with a frustrating loss of 200m of height as we descended towards our objective. The descent was very straight forwards, however finding the ascent was not. The guidebook said there was a well travelled path, but we certainly could not find one initially across the scree field, we eventually found some faded red paint spots and then found a more substantial path. We were very hot by the time we got to the base of the route, and for the vast majority of the route, but this did not take away from the enjoyment of a wonderful route up the huge face, with brilliant views down the valley and of the large rock faces around us. The route. Read the full article…

Elfer Nordturm Climbing

Alastair BegleyAustria, Rock Climbing Short Link

After a few days of paragliding we felt that it was time to return to one of our more normal activities and do some exercise! We decided to go climbing on the summit behind the launch we have been regularly using, and that I have flown over multiple times. Given the hot conditions at the moment, it was also very important that the route faced north, which made it ideal! The ascent to the route was very enjoyable with wonderful views of the Stubai valley. We were soon at the start of the Klettersteig, which we followed for the first few sections before making the very loose descent down to the huge face the route climbed up. After some faff finding the start of the route, amongst horrible loose rocks, the route was a joy to climb. It was really well bolted, with excellent rock (mostly) and enjoyable climbing. The first pitch was IV, and was mostly up a chimney, which took the ”traditional” option to get up. The second pitch looked outstanding from below, and didn’t disappoint, and it really did go at the stated grade of IV despite. Read the full article…