Blog Posts in Category: Locations

Vorderunnütz Hike&Fly II

Alastair BegleyAustria, Paragliding Short Link

After discovering how nice the take off and landing was last week, we decided to head back to the Vorderunnütz for Becky’s first hike&fly today. After three attempts, I finally also had a day with clear skies and wonderful views from this mountain. It is amazing how different it was compared to last week, sunny, warm, thermals, lots of paragliders. The walk up was fairly similar to last week, but it was much warmer, especially on the top section. There was a nice gentle breeze at the take off, which made the take off nice and easy, but did make laying Becky’s semi-lightweight paraglider out for a forward launch a bit more challenging. When we arrived there were loads of people taking off, so we chilled out in the sun while waiting to launch. After setting up Becky made a perfect launch and set off on her first hike&fly flight. I quickly followed, although my first attempt at a reverse launch didn’t go particularly well today, however after sorting my glider back out I was soon in the air. I had a fairly short flight as I wanted to land. Read the full article…

Vorderunnütz Hike&Fly

Alastair BegleyAustria, Paragliding, Walking Short Link

With a guest visiting we were keen to get out into the mountains, however we were not exactly sure on the snow cover given the warm weather last week. We decided to head up above Achensee to do the Vorderunnütz, as I knew that the ascent was up a south facing slope so had a good chance of being snow free. I was also hoping for wonderful views, as it was pretty good on a grey day when I did the walk with Rob earlier in the year. The start of the walk was up in the woods, but we made relatively good time and were soon at the Köglalm, and our first proper view out of the woods. There were still some wonderful autumnal colours and lovely views down Achensee. We then ascended back into the woods, enjoying the fleeting views down Achensee. Unfortunately by the time we emerged from the woods for the final 200m up to the summit, the cloud was really starting to come in again which was a bit disappointing, however the views were still pretty good. There was a wonderful wind for paragliding, enough. Read the full article…

Bärenkopf

Alastair BegleyAustria, Winter Walking Short Link

James and I decided to head to the Bärenkopf above Achensee after the first substantial snowfall in the mountains. This seemed like a good balance of a decent day out with some good views, but something that wouldn’t be too much work with the new snow. Little did we know just how good the views would be. An easy drive after a leisurely start took us to a surprisingly empty car park, with snow down to the car as we were on the north side of the mountain. The start of the walk was up a track to the Bärenbadalm, there was a more direct walking path which we elected to avoid given the snow. The initial track felt fairly tiring after my lack of recent hill walking, but the fleeting views of Achensee certainly kept us going. It was a nice surprise that the trees were still pretty autumnal, and the contrast between the evergreens and deciduous was pleasing. We soon emerged out from the shade and into the sun next to the Bärenbadalm, where we had a snack and delayered before the steeper ascent up to the peak.. Read the full article…

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…

Rastkogel Hike & Fly

Alastair BegleyAustria, Paragliding, Walking Short Link

We headed out above Mayrhofen, taking the Finkenberger Almbahn up to Penken. This meant that we stared high, so enjoyed a nice walk along a ridge up to the Rastkogel. The start of the walk was dominated by the ski area, but the views were fantastic nonetheless. Thankfully we soon left the ski areas and started to feel more remote, especially given there were hardly any people around. The views into the snowy mountains were wonderful, and the snow was just high enough that we had some snow, but nothing to cause us a problem. We made good time on the walk, and I certainly felt the paraglider on my back! On the way up to the Rastkogel I found a few good launch sites, however as I was out walking with Win I just noted them for another time! We made excellent time to the summit where we enjoyed our lunch, it was meant to be sunny but the high cloud wasn’t a problem and there appeared to be a temperature inversion as it was definitely warmer up high. The descent was mostly the same way as the ascent,. Read the full article…

Mayrhofen Klettersteig

Alastair BegleyAustria, Via Ferrata Short Link

After the morning flight, we headed up the valley to Mayrhofen to have some fun on the Klettersteigs. We started up the Pfeilspitzwand Klettersteig, in much better weather than last time, and we made excellent time as it was only two of us. The Klettersteig was as fun as I remember it, however certainly over sooner than we wanted. We decided to head off on the Astegg Klettersteig to the top, which was better than I remember it. Maybe something to do with the temperature being about 15 degrees cooler than the previous time! After a quick run back down we were soon back at the car, having had a brilliant few hours on the klettersteigs.