Blog Posts in Category: Locations

Zillertal Paragliding

Alastair BegleyAustria, Paragliding Short Link

We were staying in the Zillertal so that we could enjoy the alps with Win without having to do 3 hours of driving every day, and so that Becky could finish off her practical paragliding training. Win wanted to get in on the paragliding and did a tandem flight in the morning with out flight school, her pilot was a good friend of the flight school boss who is a designer for Skywalk Paragliders. She went for the Superhöhenflug which ensured fantastic views and a good flight time. After she took off, I then followed and enjoyed a very smooth flight down. It was great to watch her flying and to see the pretty aggressive wingovers which a good pilot can manage! After we finished the flight, we then headed off and climbed the klettersteig from Mayrhofen. Later in the afternoon we met up with Becky and all headed up to Melchboden, where they enjoyed some Kaiserschmarrnn and I enjoyed an evening flight back down to Zell. This was a beautiful flight in the soft evening light.

Hochiss Hike&Fly

Alastair BegleyAustria, Paragliding, Walking Short Link

With the easing of travel restrictions we had a visitor, so I was keen to make the most of the first day of cool sunny weather as I was expecting that the views would be stunning. I had an idea to walk up a ridge to the final summit of the Achensee 5 Gipfel Klettersteig, as I thought that the views over Achensee and into the Karwendel would be wonderful. After planning the walk I noticed that there was a grassy area between the two summits, and after some googling I discovered that it was hike&fly summit. This meant that I could combine a nice walk with Win and Becky, with a flight back down to the valley. We started relatively early as I wasn’t sure how busy it would be, this would have been fine but there was a significant amount of cloud which wasn’t in the weather forecast. So this meant we had a chilly walk away from the Rofanseilbahn, and then soon ascended into the cloud. Thankfully before we got to the end of the ridge the cloud started to clear and we had beautiful views into. Read the full article…

Tegelbergsteig Klettersteig

Alastair BegleyBavaria, Via Ferrata Short Link

With a sunny Saturday forecast we headed down to Fügen to climb the classic klettersteig up the Tegelberg. As we arrived in Fügen it was very cloudy, but as we made our way up the steep ascent to the start of the klettersteig we emerged through to find a missive inversion. The climb itself faced north, which meant we had a beautiful view but fairly challenging conditions photographically. The route started easily before getting to a branch point with a ladder which was followed by the crux. This resulted in many people down climbing the ladder and a big queue. Thankfully once this cleared we didn’t need to queue much as the slower groups let us past at convenient points. The rest of the climb was good fun, despite the damp and greasy rock. Once we were at the top, we made the short climb up to the lift station where we enjoyed lunch at the restaurant before taking the lazy way down in the lift.

Gerlossteinwand Klettersteig

Alastair BegleyAustria, Via Ferrata Short Link

Having spent another weekend in Zell am Ziller, with a morning weather and time window, the obvious objective was the klettersteig up the Gerlosstein. As it involved a 40min walk in from the cable car, a 90min klettersteig and then a 60min walk out. As we got the cable car up the mountain we were treated to a fantastic cloud inversion looking back down the Zillertal towards the mountains above Achensee. Other than the inversion there was not a cloud in the sky, and we had perfect conditions for the route. The route itself was fun, with some strenuous sections, some great scrambling, wonderful positions and outstanding views, the only negative was that it was in the shade which meant we were chilly and the photos were not great! After a wonderful route we topped out into the warm sun and enjoyed some lunch with an outstanding view in every direction. After a relaxing lunch we started the decent, which was fairly abrupt, but was over soon enough and were down at the lift in good time. Unfortunately we had forgotten that everything shuts for lunch, and out leisurely lunch. Read the full article…

Mayrhofen Klettersteig

Alastair BegleyAustria, Via Ferrata Short Link

Having spent a week and a long weekend in Zell am Ziller, it was inevitable that we would end up doing a number of the klettersteigs above Mayrhofen. The topo is like nothing I have ever seen, with 5 klettersteigs on a single topo, four of which start from the valley and finish near an alm, and the other climb the cliff above the alm. On the first day we ended up wanting a relaxing day off paragliding, so didn’t head into the mountains. This did have the unfortunate effect that it was very, very hot! We started on one of the easier routes, the Huterlaner Klettersteig, which had the added advantage that it topped out at the alm. The route itself was nothing to shout about, but given that it was straight out of the valley, and a 5min walk from the train station it was pretty good. On the route we had wonderful views down the valley, the smallest wire bridge that I have ever seen and plenty of sun. When we got to the top we were not sure if we wanted to continue up the higher. Read the full article…

Weißkugel

Alastair BegleyAlpinism, Italy Short Link

With a brief weather window coinciding with a weekend we knew that we wanted to do another Hochtour, the challenge was finding something where a hut still had free spaces, and was a bit more technical than some of my more recent Hochtouren. As Becky was back in the UK I was heading out with Jana and her friend Jakub who was visiting. We decided to climb the Weißkugel from the Schöne Aussicht, via the rock ridge which joins the standard south ridge near the summit. After a much longer than anticipated drive we arrived in Kurzras where we dropped out bags at the Materialseilbahn, and made the short, but steep walk up to the Hütte. It was a delight to be walking up with a small rucksack which only contained some water and food, rather than an alpine bag! After a very hot ascent we arrived at the hut in good time, chilled out with a drink, and then when the sun went in went and enjoyed the Sauna which was certainly a novel experience in a mountain hut. After a terrible night’s sleep we woke up for breakfast. Read the full article…

Vöcklabruckerpfeiler Climb, Brunnkogel

Alastair BegleyAustria, Rock Climbing Short Link

We had planned to head to the Allgäu for the weekend, but a lack of campsite spaces and a stormy forecast meant that we headed in the opposed direction from Munich to the Attersee area of Austria, near Salzburg. We ended up deciding to go for the Vöcklabruckerpfeiler climb on the Brunnkogel, as it was in a nice area, was a good length easy route (7 pitches, UIAA 4) and had a Klettersteig nearby for the next day. We knew that there may still be afternoon storms, despite the good weather forecast as the general trend seemed to be for unstable weather in the alps. This meant that we had a very early start, however as we stayed in the car park it wasn’t too unbearable! Despite the early start the walk in was very hot, and very steep! After much longer than the guidebook time we made it to the start of the route, thankful that it appeared to be in the shade! Becky stated the route by leading us up the first pitch, which was a good warm up for the next four pitches. The next four pitches. Read the full article…

Reiderstein Sunset

Alastair BegleyBavaria, Landscape Short Link

After some very unsettled weather, summer seems to have finally returned to Bavaria. Given the warm evenings and stable forecast the International Mountaineering Group (IMG), a group within the Munich Section of the Deutscher Alpenverein. It was never planned as a long walk, but a nice social evening with a nice view over Tegernsee and the mountains for sunset. After an easy drive we arrived at the destination and set up on the short, but relatively abrupt ascent up to the chapel at Reiderstein. We arrived in plenty of time for sunset, so enjoyed the view, drank a beer and ate our dinner waiting for the sunset. The sunset was beautiful with clouds to catch the pink light, and clear skies right down to the horizon.