Blog Posts in Category: Austria

Thaneller Hike&Fly

Alastair BegleyAustria, Paragliding, Walking Short Link

Following a day with snow down to the valleys and a beautiful weather forecast, we headed off early to Berwang in Austria to climb Thaneller. We had decided to climb Thaneller as it is a fairly standalone mountain which has wonderful views over the Lechtaler Alpen, towards the Zugspitze, over the Plansee and towards the Tannheimer Geberge. It was also suitable for a hike and fly with the predicted wind direction. The ascent up to the peak was beautiful, with snow covered mountains, green fields in the valleys and incredibly clear air which gave us wonderful views. As we climbed higher the views just kept improving and we had a wonderful inversion as we looked towards the Karwendel. As we approached the summit we were greeted by the view north over Plansee and into Bavaria, which was very special. The wind was moderate and in the correct direction to take off, so I quickly setup before it further increased and after more failed inflations than I would care to admit, took off. Upon watching the videos the others took, it I was clearly using my hands to balance as I. Read the full article…

Hochiss, Achensee

Alastair BegleyAustria, Walking Short Link

We had some friends from the UK visiting us, and wanted to make the most of the limited amount of time they had in the mountains with us. We had previously done this walk last year, when I flew off the top, and it was certainly memorable due to the relatively small amount of ascent thanks to the Rofanbahn, fantastic views, and even a little bit of scrambling. While last time there was plenty of hill fog in the morning, which made the ascent fairly grim and cold, this time we were basking in the warm sunshine, which made the walk enjoyable from the start. As we climbed up towards the Rotspitz and the view into the Karwendel and over Achense opened up it was just fantastic. From this point the entire ascent of the ridge was enjoyable, and we managed to find a location in the sun and out of the wind for lunch. As the day went on the Föhn winds started to develop, and you could clearly see Föhn clouds over the main alpine ridge. This meant that the summit was pretty chilly, combined with the high. 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…

Stripsenjoch Climbing

Alastair BegleyAustria, Rock Climbing Short Link

As the risk of thunderstorms reduced we upgraded our plans for today from a walk to some short multi-pitch climbing in the Wilder Kaiser. We decided to head to the Gamswand near Stripsenjoch in the Wilder Kaiser, as it was a relatively short drive, followed by a 90min walk into a crag with lots of two pitch UIAA 4 and 5 routes. Our walk in was very warm, but we made excellent time, and were at the crag in just over 70mins, or so we thought…! Our guidebook only had a single crag in it, so when we saw climbers in about the right place we simply headed to where they were, little did we know we were on the wrong crag, 200m away from where we should be! After looking at the topo in a confused state for a while, we set off up a route as it most closely matched what we were expecting, however it certainly wasn’t the easy 3+ warm up which were were expecting, but actually was a really enjoyable UIAA 5 pitch with lots of delicate slab climbing. The second pitch was mostly easier,. 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…