Blog Posts in Category: Italy

Landscapes around Tre Cime

Alastair BegleyDolomites, Landscape Short Link

With the car park located in such a beautiful location, which was so high, it was obvious that I was going to get up for sunrise and head out for sunset, especially as the times were at such a sociable hour given the time of the year. Unfortunately for sunrise I had no plan as we had arrived in dark the previous evening, so I literally just got out of the van and walked 20m to the front of the car park. Given the lack of effort I had to put in I am pleased with the photos I managed to capture, but in hindsight it would definitely have been better to make a short walk to find a even better viewpoint. The sunrise was very short lived, as the sun rose up and went behind a bank of cloud, but before this happened it was really beautiful, and certainly worth the slightly early alarm clock. I had done some research on sunset locations, and ended up with one specific shot in mind, the Tre Cime lit up in the golden hour and reflected in a small lake. However what. Read the full article…

Paternkofel – Innerkofler und Schartenweg Klettersteig

Alastair BegleyDolomites, Via Ferrata Short Link

I have been wanting to visit Tre Cime/Drei Zinnen for a while now, and a perfect weather weekend at the end of September seemed like the perfect time. We headed down to the Dolomites after work on Friday and could head straight to the Tre Cime car park as overnight parking is allowed. As we arrived were were blown away by the number of campervans that were already there, but we managed to find a nice space which was very flat and not boxed in by all of the other vans. My day started by waking up in time for sunrise, which was very enjoyable, if a tad cold first thing in the morning. The car park is really high at around 2300m which means that without much ascent you can be on the top of a pretty high mountain which makes the views outstandingly good. Our objective for the day was the Paternkofel, via the Innerkofler Klettersteig on the ascent, and the Schartenweg Klettersteig on the decent. This provided a longer day out than the standard route, avoided the scree gully which is described as unpleasant in the guidebook. Read the full article…

Volbiv from Stubai to Olang-Antholz

Alastair BegleyAustria, Italy, Paragliding Short Link

One of my aims this year was to do a VolBiv, which is where you travel from A to B by air with a paraglider, along with a tent and other associated camping equipment. As this was my first VolBiv and I only had 3 days, I had set myself some simple rules to make it easier/more enjoyable: In the week running up to the VolBiv the forecast for Friday-Sunday was very good, with Friday and Saturday looking great and Sunday looking OK, which resulted in me planning a route which started in Stubai with the flying crux on the first day, flying over the Stubai glaciers and the main alpine ridge. Once over the ridge, it should have been plain sailing along the south facing slopes of the Pustertal. I didn‘t have a specific objective, but had planned routes to Lienz and onwards to Spittal an der Drau. The advantage of this route was that there was a trainline all the way along the route after I reached the Pustertal, so getting home on the Sunday would be easy no matter where I finished. I gradually packed my equipment. Read the full article…

2022 in 100 Photos

Alastair Begley100 Photos, Alpinism, Arco, Austria, Bavaria, Dolomites, General, Landscape, Paragliding, Road Cycling, Rock Climbing, Scrambling, Ski Touring, Skiing, Via Ferrata, Walking, Winter Climbing, Winter Walking Short Link

Thankfully 2022 was a more normal year than the previous two years, and our first full year with our new lifestyle living an hour from the Alps. A high point of the year was the number of visitors we were able to host, for skiing, walking, paragliding and climbing. We certainly made the most of living near the alps, with most weekends spend in the mountains one way or another. Winter Our winter was fairly dominated with piste skiing, where Becky progressed from tentatively skiing easy blue runs to confidently skiing red runs with the odd short black run as well! This was great to see and I am looking forward to her continued progression this year. Despite the focus on piste skiing we also squeezed some paragliding in and I managed to get 4 days of ski touring as well. General Through the winter we managed to squeeze in some paragliding, and on one of our final days of skiing of the year, I am managed to combine a morning skiing with my first proper cross country flight on my paraglider which was a very memorable experience, as I. Read the full article…

Paragliding over Marmolada (Dolomites)

Alastair BegleyDolomites, Paragliding Short Link

I had hoped to fly over Marmolada last time I was in the Dolomites, but due to sticking with my pre-planned route, despite the late takeoff time, I wasn’t able to. I had thought that flying over Marmolada would have to wait until next year, but with some unseasonable weather, and a good airmass the cloudbase was predicted to be at 3700m with a moderate southerly wind on the 30th October! As the window with the good conditions and my availability was only one day, I woke up at 4:45 in Munich and drove straight to the Sella Pass. I got there with excitement as there didn’t appear to be any high level cloud which was certainly a risk from the forecast and made the short walk up to the Lokomotiva launch site. Here I waited until I was fairly sure I would stay up, although I was still a little unsure as I launched as lots of people were still failing the climb out! Thankfully I launched and made my way towards the steep cliffs and was soon in a strong climb which took me up and away. After. Read the full article…

Via Settimo Cielo, Val di Ledro (Arco)

Alastair BegleyArco, Rock Climbing Short Link

After a day of paragliding at Bassano we returned to Arco for a final day of climbing before heading back to Munich to prepare for the arrival of some friends. We headed to the Val di Ledro, which looked like it was full of well bolted multi-pitch routes from UIAA 5+ onwards. We decided to climb Via Settimo Cielo as it was highly rated, only UIAA 5+ and with 4 pitches of proper climbing. The approach to the crag was slightly more involved than we had expected, as a climbing path wound it’s way around the base of the cliffs high above the old road below. Thankfully we had a gpx track to the start of the route, which certainly made finding it easier, and we were pleased to find the start of the route deserted. The route was absolutely stunning, with interesting climbing which was consistent at the grade, no polish and really well bolted. As we were climbing there were beautiful views both up the Val di Ledro and out onto Lake Garda. All too soon we were at the top, but due to a lack of preparation. Read the full article…

Bassano Paragliding

Alastair BegleyItaly, Paragliding Short Link

After an excellent few days at Lake Garda, we decided to head over to Bassano for some paragliding. I did three flights, one of which was an XC flight from Pannettone and two were flights with Becky. We started the day with a launch from Stella and a glide down to the landing field. As we started early the launch was fairly quiet, it was a calm enjoyable morning glide down where I did some more wingover practice on my new wing. We managed to get a private lift up to Pannettone with some Germans, where I enjoyed a short XC flight away from the landing and then back along the ridge before returning to the landing place. It was an enjoyable flight with the autumnal colours, but certainly involved some scratching at times when below an inversion. With a bit of time left, we headed back up to Stella for an evening glide back down, after the crowds had finished for the day. It was really nice to be at the take off with hardly anyone else around and no pressure. The flight down in the low evening sun. Read the full article…

Lake Garda Road Cycling

Alastair BegleyArco, Road Cycling Short Link

After two days of climbing our feet were certainly starting to feel uncomfortable, so we decided to take a break for climbing and headed off on a cycle around Lake Garda. The route itself was around 89km of cycling, which was split up by a ferry across Lake Garda in the middle. We set off in the morning sun from the campsite and had a very pleasurable cycle down to Lake Garda on cycle paths with wonderful scenery. We then soon joined the road down the east side of Lake Garda which was very scenic but unfortunately not in the sun for most of the ride down the lake, although this did prevent us from getting too hot! The road was really enjoyable without much ascent, not too much traffic and excellent views over Lake Garda. All too soon we were at Torri del Benaco, where we caught the boat from. We arrived perfectly timed 10mins before a ferry left, so after quickly buying a ticket and carefully walking onto the boat in cycling shoes, we were soon off across the lake on a very smooth crossing. After we crossed. Read the full article…