Blog Posts in Category: Italy

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…

2023 in 100 Photos

Alastair Begley100 Photos, Austria, Bavaria, Dolomites, General, Germany, Italy, Landscape, Mountaineering, Paragliding, Rock Climbing, Scrambling, Ski Touring, Skiing, Slovenia, Via Ferrata, Walking, Winter Walking Short Link

All to quickly it was once again the end of another year and time to reflect on the year. This year we really started to settle into our routine of living an hour from the Alps, with travel being much easier and having settled into Munich life, both professionally and socially. Unfortunately at the start of the year Becky had an accident and badly broke her wrist which was also misdiagnosed which delayed her recovery. This significantly impacted our year as we were unable to climb, klettersteig or ride our bikes for most of the year. The highlights of the year for me have to be Becky’s continued progression at skiing with her initial foray into ski touring, my ski mountaineering adventure on the Ruderhofspitze, my continued paragliding progression with my first flight over 100km, our wonderful holiday together to Slovenia and a beautiful walk near munich with a combination of snow&autumn colours. Winter Winter continued with lots of weekends away skiing with family, friends from the UK and friends from Munich, it seemed like we had a constant stream of visitors which as wonderful. Becky’s progression continued and she. Read the full article…

Col Rodella Paragliding

Alastair BegleyDolomites, Paragliding Short Link

After muddling up my days and doing a Hike and Fly on the day which ended up being a better XC day than forecast, I was hoping for a repeat of the same today. Unfortunately this was no to be, as the base remained as low and the high cloud came in as forecast. After a very leisurely morning waiting for the day to start, I eventually started to get ready when it seemed that there was a good chance of staying up. Unfortunately as I finished getting ready to launch the wind changed 180 degrees and meant that I had to walk to the other start. Not wanting to repack everything, I just walked with a bunched glider which was just about ok, other than being very warm in all my flying clothes. Arriving at the alternative start, I then had to wait more until this start place started to work, however eventually I was able to launch. The thermals were all very weak, and the challenge was to get high enough to transition to the big cliffs. I came very close to managing to get enough height, but. Read the full article…

Col Pelous Hike&Fly

Alastair BegleyDolomites, Paragliding, Walking Short Link

With the forecast for XC not looking that great, I decided to do a Hike&Fly instead as this would be a more enjoyable day than sitting and hoping for good flying conditions. Although as it turned out, the day was great and I should definitely have gone to do an XC as an hour after I landed I could count over 50 pilots above Marmolada, and as I parked up for the night in the Sella Pass there were another 50 pilots enjoying the evening thermals on Saas Pordoi. I decided to head up Col Pelous as it was a decent walk to the summit, which promised fantastic views, and it certainly delivered. Despite there being no rush on the walk up I endured a pretty fast pace and did the 4.6km walk with 860m of ascent in 1h32m elapsed time, stopping only for a few photos on the way up. Due to the fast ascent I arrived at the summit a sweaty mess, with most of my clothes soaked in sweat. Therefore I decided to enjoy a chilled out lunch on the summit in the sun while everything dried. Read the full article…

Ettore Bovero Via Ferrata

Alastair BegleyDolomites, Via Ferrata Short Link

With Becky needing to be in Brixen for an early evening train we needed to have a relatively short day. We ended up choosing the Ettore Bovero Via Ferrata, as we could park overnight at the start of the walk, the climb looked good and it wasn’t too long a day. In the morning when we set off it was very cold, and I misjudged the length of time we would be walking on the flat before we started the ascent to warm us up, which led to a pretty chilly walk down the valley. Thankfully when we got to the start of the ascent we quickly started to warm back up and were soon at the col before the path led us up to the start of the via ferrata. This was a very small path which weaved its way up an improbable looking route around cliffs and old military lookouts. We arrived at the start of the via ferrata in about book time, and quickly geared up to start the route. After the crowds on the day before, it was wonderful to have the entire route to ourselves. Read the full article…