Blog Posts in Category: Italy

Stoanamandl

Alastair BegleyItaly, Walking Short Link

One of the obvious walks from Mühlbach was directly up the ridge from the town to Stoanamandl via the Altes Karl. As we were staying in Mühlbach we also had the advantage that the ski lifts in Vals were free, so we also could take the lift back down. We started by taking the bus up to Spinges, and from here we took one of the lesser travelled paths which was overgrown in places with a few fallen trees, when we got to the top we found that it looked like it was shut… We were very surprised on the way up to stumble on some old bunkers from WWII which were very impressive and a nice breather from the continuous ascent. The walk was really a walk of two halves, with the first half being pretty much purely exercise, and the second half being all about the views with not much exercise. As we ascended we had fleeting views out of the forest until we climbed to the top of the main tree line, at which point the views opened up and were really beautiful and varied. We could. Read the full article…

Plose Hike&Fly (Brixen)

Alastair BegleyItaly, Paragliding, Walking Short Link

On our second unplanned day in Brixen due to clutch issues we decided to climb the obvious peak which towers above the town, Plose (Telegraph), as it looked beautiful with its red flanks in the evening sun the day before. We dropped the van off at a garage in Brixen, hoping that it was just the master cylinder which needed replacing as this was an easy job, unlike the slave cylinder. An easy bus ride took us up to the seilbahn before we walked along a traversing line to the north towards the Ochsenalm. As we traversed around the mountain the views kept getting better and better as we emerged out of the forest and the path turned to face more into the Pustertal. From the Ochsenalm the main ascent really started and this meant that the views just kept getting better and better. The final section of the route was up a lovely ridge to the summit of Telegraph, aptly named due to the infrastructure on the summit! Unfortunately the entire day was fairly cloudy which impacted the views, however we enjoyed the fleeting views in between the clouds. Read the full article…

Neustift Vineyards

Alastair BegleyItaly Short Link

We had an unplanned stay in Neustift near Brixen due to some clutch issues with the van. We stayed at the wonderful Griesserhof which only cost us the price of two bottles of their wine, which really was very good. On the Sunday we did a short walk around the local vineyards, with plenty of sampling en route, and we can safely say that the wine was all very good, but the best wine definitely came from the Griesserhof. We enjoyed our two nights there, even if the second was unplanned and due to having a broken van, and will definitely be back as it is a great place to stop en-route to/from the Dolomites or Lake Garda.

Jerebica/Cima del Lago Hike&Fly

Alastair BegleyItaly, Paragliding, Slovenia, Walking Short Link

On our way to Slovenia we wanted to do a walk before we parked in the campsite in Bovec for 4 days. On the way down I was researching options and stumbled across Cima del Lago (Italian) or Jerebica (Slovenian). The walk looked absolutely perfect with not too much ascent, a nice ridge when up high and stunning views in every direction, so it was the obvious choice especially as it was only a 5 min detour from our route. While I was researching the route, it looked like it may be possible to fly down from the summit, however I couldn’t find any information about it. The joy of my hike&fly gear is that it is so light that I don’t mind carrying it even if there is a very uncertain chance of flying. As the forecast was for a very hot day, we got up early and set off to make the most of the cooler morning air, especially as the first part of the ascent was fairly constant and in the woods. Eventually we emerged from the woods at the col at the start of the ridge. Read the full article…

Paragliding 200km from Italy into Austria over the Stubai Alps and with views of the Großglockner

Alastair BegleyAustria, Italy, Paragliding Short Link

For my second flight with my new wing I thought I would fly back in the direction of home from Speikboden in Südtirol. The plan was to do the first leg of the classic 200km FAI triangle by heading along the Pustertal towards Sterzing, crossing the Brenner above Sterzing, before heading up the Ridnauntal to the Stubai alps. From the Stubai alps the plan was to head back down the Stubaital, cross the Brenner again to fly into the Zillertal next to Hintertux, before heading over the Gerlos pass and into the Pinzgau. From here I had a rough plan to fly north to either Kufstein or Kössen, depending on what the conditions looked like. The first section of the route went very quickly and I was soon at the crossing of the Brenner pass above Sterzing. With the high cloudbase this was not difficult and then with one more climb at the start of the Ridnauntal, I was able to fly all the way up to the high Stubai mountains without making a single turn. Up here the thermals were weaker and I should have turned up to cloudbase. Read the full article…

Flying over the Dolomites at 4000m on a 100km FAI triangle from Speikboden

Alastair BegleyItaly, Paragliding Short Link

With an excellent forecast for the long weekend we headed down to Südtirol/Osttirol and the Pustertal for a weekend of paragliding and road cycling. On the first morning we got up very early and headed down to Speikboden, where I had planned to fly a classic 100km FAI triangle. Unfortunately due to traffic we arrived later than I had hoped, and my stomach wasn’t feeling great on the drive which made me, rightly, concerned that it might be a flight where I suffered from airsickness. After taking the lifts and faffing in the wind while I had to connect my new glider, I was eventually ready to take off, however my first attempt wasn’t as successful as I would have hoped. The combination of the strong wind and a new glider that I wasn’t familiar with resulted in my getting plucked and failing the launch. The second attempt was much better and I was soon in the air and climbing away, unfortunately at this point I realised that I had managed to break a break line in the upper cascades. As this was in the middle of the wing and. Read the full article…

2024 in 100 Photos

Alastair Begley100 Photos, Alpinism, Arco, Austria, Bavaria, France, India, Landscape, Mountain Biking, Paragliding, Rock Climbing, Scrambling, Ski Touring, Skiing, Via Ferrata, Walking, Wildlife Short Link

It seems hard to believe that another year has passed by, but having just had another overindulgent Christmas and new year it is somehow already time to summarise the year in another 100 photos. It was a very busy year with both free time activities and work with many more business trips for me than usual. Winter The year started off with the ski season, we did a lot of alpine skiing and certainly made the most of our Tirol cards, I think I did around 25 days overall! Becky’s skiing has continued to improve and this led us todo our first ski tour on the Kleiner Gamsstein. Unfortunately the snow over the winter was difficult for ski touring, especially for beginners so there was limited ski touring for both Becky and me. I managed one ski mountaineering weekend, but we suffered with terrible snow conditions as well as weather. It was nonetheless enjoyable to spend a weekend high in the mountains. Spring It soon turned to spring, which was unfortunately a bit of a washout along with the start of the summer. This resulted in us not spending that. Read the full article…

Sillian Paragliding

Alastair BegleyAustria, Italy, Paragliding Short Link

With a great forecast for the day in Osttirol, I decided to head down to Sillian for a day, hoping to manage a 100km FAI triangle. The day started later than I was hoping, however there was still plenty of time to make the triangle as I started. The first section of the flight went pretty smoothly, although I would have liked some stronger thermals, however on my first major valley crossing I realised that there was a much stronger west wind than was forecast due to Föhn over the main alpine ridge between Bruneck and Innsbruck. This resulted in two problems, firstly I had a poor glide and secondly I dropped down into the Lee at the end of the valley crossing. When this was combined with also dropping through an inversion layer resulted in thermals which were impossible for me to climb in, really strong pockets of rising air which were far to small to complete a turn in. After fighting for ages, I came to the conclusion that it wasn’t going to work and made my way to land in Italy. Thankfully getting back to Launch was. Read the full article…