Blog Posts in Category: Italy

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…

Climbing Claudia 22, Parete Pezol, Arco

Alastair BegleyArco, Rock Climbing Short Link

On our last day of climbing at Arco we headed into Parete Pezol with the rest of the group from the International Mountaineering Group section of the Munich branch of the German Alpine Club. It was a relatively recently bolted route which meant that it wasn’t very polished, but being limestone meant that it was quite likely there would be some loose rock. The walk in was really great with hardly any distance or ascent, and immediately with fantastic views over Lake Garda. We decided to climb Claudia 22 which was a 10 pitch UIAA 5+. The route was really fantastic with mostly pretty good climbing and sound enough rock, the highlight for me was the combination of the climbing with the wonderful position over the valley looking down Lake Garda. It was a shame that there was a single Italian team behind us, which did not want to give us much space on the belay and added unnecessary stress to the day. We arrived at the top shortly after the others in the group, where we enjoyed lunch before making the short descent back to the car and a. Read the full article…

Ferrata Dell’Amiczia, Lake Garda

Alastair BegleyArco, Via Ferrata Short Link

With sore toes after our previous day in the Val di Ledro we decided to head for the scenic Ferrata Dell’Amiczia above Lake Garda. The walk in was fairly interesting with an old castle near the start and then ever changing views out over Lake Garda as we climbed higher. It was fairly hot and sticky on the walk in, so we were definitely glad to be early, especially as we passed a group of about 20 people at a hut on the way up who later headed up the via ferrata. The route itself was enjoyable due to the positions and the views out over Lake Garda, but as an actual via ferrata route it was nothing to rave about as it was all either easy Ferrata or long ladders, but we did know that before we set off. Our way up the route was lovely with no one in front of us slowing us down, nor anyone behind us making us rush. As we got to the top of the route we had to briefly wait for a team in front but this was only for the last. Read the full article…

Climbing Babilonia and Plasir, Val di Ledro

Alastair BegleyArco, Rock Climbing Short Link

Having not climbed for a while we decided to head back to the wonderful Val di Ledro, having previously had a wonderful day climbing there. This time we started up Babilonia which was a lovely route which looked out over Lake Garda, had interesting climbing and was really well bolted. The climb was four pitches and went pretty quickly, so after enjoying lunch at the top we decided to head back down to climb Plasir. This route also had brilliant climbing on it, however it was definitely not well protected (despite also being S1 in our guide) and I certainly regretted my lack of cams to aid the protection. The second pitch was proper slab pitch which certainly required trust of the feet and the final pitch has some wildly runout sections, initially up a crack and then some exposed face climbing at the top. After the second climb we made our way back to the car having climbed 7 pitches in time to enjoy a cold drink and some ice cream in Arco. Both of the route were quiet with no other teams and no polish to speak of. Read the full article…