La Bellezza Della Venere (Arco)

Alastair BegleyArco, Rock Climbing Short Link

We decided to climb a route which we had previously climbed on our first day in Arco, as we knew if was an enjoyable route and some friends from Munich were also planning on climbing the route. The route is a 9 pitch UIAA 5-, which is adequately protected by bolts. Unfortunately being a both a high quality and easy multiplitch climb, the route is very popular. We didn’t arrive particularly early and found a long queue to get started on the route. Eventually Becky and I managed to get started and made our way up the first pitch which was an enjoyable warm up. As we were waiting to start the next pitch the team of three in front of us were not doing anything at the belay for ages, and appeared to be adding an extra pitch from their tree belay to the official belay, so we decided to overtake, which would turn out to be a very worthwhile decision. The next pitches were enjoyable with no real queuing and fun climbing. Unfortunately there was a major traffic jam at the base of the crux pitch due to. Read the full article…

Col Rodella XC Paragliding

Alastair BegleyDolomites, Paragliding Short Link

I had been hoping to paraglide in the Dolomites this autumn, but due to poor weather there hadn’t been any opportunities and I thought the chance was going to escape me this autumn. However thankfully at the start of October there was a brief improvement in the weather, which actually coincided with a good airmass fly XC paragliding. I even already had holiday booked off, as I was on the waitlist for an SIV course, but as 3 days before I still didn’t have a space, I changed my plans and headed to the Dolomites instead. There was only really one day for good XC flying, the second day was a hike&fly day, so I was a bit disappointed to wake up feeling pretty rough after a bad nights sleep. After a frustrating morning sat at take off waiting for a persistent inversion to lift, I finally had the chance to launch. Post launch I very nearly bombed straight out down to the valley, but with some fighting got back up to launch and caught a thermal which took me up through the inversion. At this point everything started to. Read the full article…

Col Bel Hike&Fly (Val di Fassa, Dolomites)

Alastair BegleyDolomites, Paragliding, Walking Short Link

After a brilliant day flying the previous day, I was unsure of what do do on my second and final day in the Dolomites as the airmass was not predicted to be very good. I was even debating if I should just head back and fly in Austria on the way home so that I got back to Munich at a more reasonable hour. As I left the hotel I had decided that I was going to head to fly at Rofan above Achensee, until I had a sudden brainwave. I realised that I was focussing too much on thermal flying, and an alternative, and equally good way to spend the day was to do a hike and fly. Which would enable me to soak up more of the wonderful scenery on offer in the Dolomites. I found this really useful page on FassaFly and decided to head up Col Bel, as it worked well with the wind direction, was a decent walk and was meant to have stunning views. I actually elected to climb the mountain via a slightly different route, as it meant that I ascended up a. Read the full article…

Autumnal Kössen XC

Alastair BegleyAustria, Paragliding Short Link

A short video from the final flight of the afternoon last Sunday at Kössen, it was really feeling like autumn was starting to arrive with a large cloud inversion in the valley in the morning, followed by a day which took a long time to start and then when it finally did, a low base. Despite the low base small XC flights are possible at Kössen, and it was great that I was able to get away from the hill as it gave me some good experience on the glider that I was testing. Embarrassingly I didn‘t quite make it back to the landing due to misjudging the direction of the valley wind, the downside of not being familiar with the accelerated speed of the new wing! It was wonderful to fly in the atmospheric conditions, where it was possible soar up the outside of clouds and see Broken Spectres in the cloud.

Sulzspitze Hike&Fly

Alastair BegleyAustria, Paragliding Short Link

After a long day on the Aggenstein we were after a shorter walk the following day, which involved a lift for ascent. We decided to head up the Sulzspitze from the top of the Neunerköpfle Seilbahn, the end of a long hike&fly Becky, James and I did last November. When we were there before I had scoped out that it looked like a great peak for a hike&fly, and as such this time took my glider along for the walk up so that I could fly back down. The walk up to the summit was very scenic and very easy, certainly less difficult than in the snow/ice last time!! Once we got to the top there was absolutely no wind, other than the odd thermal cycle from the south face which resulted in a small tailwind. After analysing the situation over lunch, I decided that it was suitable to take off and enjoy the flight back down. I was really hoping to get some lift and extend my flight back down. However as I flew off I wasn‘t finding any lift, I must have been too early for the west. Read the full article…

Aggenstein Linke Südwand-Platte

Alastair BegleyAustria, Rock Climbing Short Link

Having walked up Aggenstein with James last year, I knew there was plenty of climbing on the large rocky faces, so this was an obvious choice of where to head with Rob and Win, as the walk in wasn’t too long, the climbing was easy but sustained, and was relatively well protected with bolts. We decided to climb the Linke Südwand-Platte up the south west face, which is, I think, mostly what we ended up climbing! Some of the descriptions online suggested that it was very easy to end up on the routes to the right and the left, and we certainly found that. I don’t recall spending so much time looking at a topo and feeling confused before! The walk in was fairly pleasant in the cool, shady morning air and we arrived at the start of the route in relatively good time. After quickly eating some food and gearing up I set off up the first pitch and the route finding was initially very easy, until I got to the belay. At this point I had no real idea where the second pitch went, and I didn’t find. Read the full article…

Latschenkopf 

Alastair BegleyBavaria, Walking Short Link

We had planned to go paragliding, but when we woke up the forecast wind in front of the impending storm had increased significantly, so we decided that we would skip flying and head out for a short morning walk before the storm arrived. We decided to do a short loop from Brauneck up to the Latschenkopf, as neither of us fancied a large descent after the descent from the Watzmann two days earlier. It was a very hot morning, at 8am on the drive from Munich it was already 28 degrees! The walk was very pleasant with lovely views, little ascent and more importantly little descent! The wind on the ridge made us glad that we had chosen to abort paragliding and just enjoy a short walk close to Munich. It was a fairly short walk, and by 11am we were descending to the all below the Idealhang ski slope. So there was one obvious choice to have, a classic Weißwurst Frühstück. After enjoying brunch, we headed back to the lift and then went for a swim in our local lake back in Munich.

Watzmann Überschreitung

Alastair BegleyBavaria, Via Ferrata Short Link

I have wanted to traverse the Watzmann since first visiting the Berchesgaten a few years ago on a landscape photography trip, where I took the photo below. On our second summer holiday this year we had decided to stay around Munich and with a perfect weather forecast, and spaces in the Watzmannhaus we decided to head over to Berchtesgaden to do the classic route crossing the Watzmann. The route itself was absolutely wonderful, and it was also nice to stay at the hut given it was in such a fine position looking out over Berchtesgaden and the surrounding peaks. The route certainly had all the aspects required to make it a wonderful experience, great views, plenty of exposure and fun scrambling and it was great to look down to the impressive Königssee. The descent from the ridge to the Wimbachgrieshütte was pretty unpleasant and very long, but was worth it given how good the ridge itself was! We debated if we should do the route in one day or two, in the end we decided to stay in the hut and do the route in two days, as the guidebook. Read the full article…