Blog Posts in Category: Germany

Wallberg

Alastair BegleyBavaria, Winter Walking Short Link

As we only had a half day spare, generally poor weather and plenty of snow which made walking hard work, we decided to head to the Wallberg as we could take the lazy option to the top, have some lunch in a restaurant with a view and then make the short walk to the summit. The weather was better than expected when we got to the top, and there was even a brief glimpse of the sun. Due to this we decided to head to the chapel and admire the view before retreating into the very quiet restaurant for lunch. Feeling lazy and full we then headed off to the summit, which wasn’t difficult due to the excellent trail in the snow. I was last on the Wallberg after a much longer day with James last year. After a quick descent we were back at the lift for the easy descent back down to the car.

Enningalm MTB

Alastair BegleyBavaria, Mountain Biking Short Link

I finally headed out on my MTB after 14 months of being in Munich, so what better for a first outing than 40km with 1200m of ascent! We headed off from Graswing early in the cold early in the morning, and just about warmed up before the descent down the old road to Oberau. This was pretty enjoyable having not been out on the MTB for so long, but it wasn’t technical. Next we made the mistake of following my quick sketch of the route, which gave us a tough ascent which was unridable, but the descent sort of made up for it. The first section was wonderful single track, although it being entirely covered by leaves did make it a bit more interesting. Unfortunately the single track wasn’t that long and we were soon on fire road again for the final descent to the valley. When we reached the valley the cycling was still beautiful, but we certainly had the wrong bikes! However this gave us the opportunity to chill out and recover some energy prior to the big ascent up to Enningalm. An ascent of 900m on my. Read the full article…

Brauneck paragliding in the snow

Alastair BegleyBavaria, Paragliding Short Link

Unfortunately as autumn progresses, most of the cable cars shut down for a quiet period before the winter season. This meant my options for where to go for some more paragliding were more limited. Thankfully close to Munich we do have a few good options, and I had planned to head to Brauneck for a few flights before heading up the road to the Blomberg for some shorter/cheaper flights to practice landings. When I got out of the lift at Brauneck two things struck me, firstly it was windier than I was expecting, and secondly there were a lot of paragliders. I guess in hindsight this was unsurprising as one of the only areas open near Munich! The launch area was chaotic, with loads of people, wind, failed launches, people being hit by gliders etc. I had a good take off after my first one failing due to the snow, and then had a surprising flight. Firstly there was enough wind for ridge lift, and secondly there was very mellow thermals which meant that I had my first experience of flying above take off. Due to the amount of pilots. Read the full article…

Blomberg & Zwiesel

Alastair BegleyBavaria, Walking Short Link

We were keen to get out for a walk prior to Becky making the long drive back to the UK in order to get the van home for a winter break and a new coat of paint. However, as Becky had the long drive we didn’t want the day to be too long so that there was no additional fatigue to add into the mix. We decided to head up the Blomberg and Zwiesel, which we actually climbed from the other side on my pre assignment trip back in July 2020. However this time we went up from the other side, which turned out to be a really lovely circuit with plenty of time on the ridge and out of the forrest. It really is amazing that this is only an hour from our door, certainly better than a stroll in the mendips! There was a strong föhn wind forecast, which meant that we prepared for a windy day out. However where we were there was hardly any wind, which meant we were definitely overdressed and certainly had too many layers in our packs. However there was certainly wind about. Read the full article…

Tegelbergsteig Klettersteig

Alastair BegleyBavaria, Via Ferrata Short Link

With a sunny Saturday forecast we headed down to Fügen to climb the classic klettersteig up the Tegelberg. As we arrived in Fügen it was very cloudy, but as we made our way up the steep ascent to the start of the klettersteig we emerged through to find a missive inversion. The climb itself faced north, which meant we had a beautiful view but fairly challenging conditions photographically. The route started easily before getting to a branch point with a ladder which was followed by the crux. This resulted in many people down climbing the ladder and a big queue. Thankfully once this cleared we didn’t need to queue much as the slower groups let us past at convenient points. The rest of the climb was good fun, despite the damp and greasy rock. Once we were at the top, we made the short climb up to the lift station where we enjoyed lunch at the restaurant before taking the lazy way down in the lift.

Reiderstein Sunset

Alastair BegleyBavaria, Landscape Short Link

After some very unsettled weather, summer seems to have finally returned to Bavaria. Given the warm evenings and stable forecast the International Mountaineering Group (IMG), a group within the Munich Section of the Deutscher Alpenverein. It was never planned as a long walk, but a nice social evening with a nice view over Tegernsee and the mountains for sunset. After an easy drive we arrived at the destination and set up on the short, but relatively abrupt ascent up to the chapel at Reiderstein. We arrived in plenty of time for sunset, so enjoyed the view, drank a beer and ate our dinner waiting for the sunset. The sunset was beautiful with clouds to catch the pink light, and clear skies right down to the horizon.

Kampenwand

Alastair BegleyBavaria, Walking Short Link

With another day of afternoon storms we decided to make the most of the forecast morning sun by getting up early and heading for a peak which was close to Munich, and almost out of the mountains in order to try and catch the best of the weather. We ended up deciding on the Kampenwand, as we could have a good day out with a reasonable amount of ascent, knew there would be wonderful views and that we could save our knees by getting the gondola back down. The ascent was initially up wide forest tracks, which meant that we made good progress, but in order to traverse under the impressive cliffs of the Zwölferturm we took the smaller path which ascended towards the Zwölferturm’s cliffs from the north. While the path was pretty steep up through the woods, it was certainly worth it for the initial views out towards Chiemsee over Erlbergkopf, and to see the impressive cliffs from up close. As the skies were still clear we didn’t hang around once we got up to the Steinlingalm, but instead headed straight up to the Kampenwand. This meant that. Read the full article…

Hörndlwand Climbing – Die Gnadenlosen Drei

Alastair BegleyBavaria, Rock Climbing Short Link

With a day of hot weather and a good forecast we decided to head back to where I had recently been walking on another hot day, as I knew that it meant that we would be climbing out of the sun. We headed back to the Hörndlwand in the Chiemgau for some multi pitch traditional climbing. The crag is fairly complex which lots of corners, and routes which can be linked together. However from the guide we struggled to work out what could be linked, so decided to just stick to one of the suggestions at the start of the guide. We climbed “Die Gnadenlosen Drei” a two star UIAA 5 route which was a 200m 8 pitch route. This route linked the following routes: Nordwestsockel – UIAA 4+ – 80m – 3 pitches Merklriss – UIAA 5 – 35m – 1 pitch Mittlere Nordwand – UIAA 4 – 55m – 2 pitches The walk up was very warm, but thankfully mostly in the shade, and we were very glad to confirm that the route was entirely in the shade when we arrived at the Hörndlalm. We were also pleased. Read the full article…