Blog Posts in Category: Mountaineering

Similaun

Aug 1, 2021Alastair BegleyAlpinism, Austria Short Link

With a short weather window in the very unsettled summer we decided to climb Similaun which sits high above Vent in the Sölden valley. I have actually climbed the Similaun before, as when I was in Sölden 20 years ago on a family holiday I climbed it with my parents and our family friends. Due to the unsettled weather we were not able to wait for a nice day for the walk in, which meant that we got very wet on the dull walk in from Vent to the Martin Busch Hütte. Thankfully the walk wasn’t too long, and we were soon in the warmth of the hut and able to enjoy some warm drinks and beer. Following Covid it was strange being back in a hut, sharing a table with strangers and not having any mask requirement. Unfortunately all the small rooms were booked, so we were in the lager room in the roof which didn’t even have a window! The next morning we woke up to clear skies and beautiful views, we had decided to climb Similaun via the Marzellklammspitze as this meant that we walked up a. Read the full article…

Fernau Klettersteig

Aug 1, 2021Alastair BegleyVia Ferrata Short Link

With a terrible forecast for most areas it took us a while to settle on an objective. We knew that in some places we had a brief spell of dry weather in the morning, that we wanted to do a klettersteig, and if possible wanted to be high up in the mountains. We ended up settling on the Fernau Klettersteig which is a the end of the Stubaital and is a short Klettersteig directly from a lift station, which started running at 8am. There are two klettersteigs from the Fernau lift, a very difficult “E” graded route and an easier “D” graded route. As it was our first klettersteig in a while and the weather forecast wasn’t great we elected for the easier route. This involved a few hundred meters of climbing and a few short sections of “D” with the majority being “C”. In the morning there was much more cloud than we were hoping for, but this gave us some fairly atmospheric views on the ascent. The route itself was enjoyable, but due to the setting in a ski resort, and the fact it was fairly short was. Read the full article…

Kampenwand

Jul 27, 2021Alastair BegleyBavaria, Walking Short Link

With another day of afternoon storms we decided to make the most of the forecast morning sun by getting up early and heading for a peak which was close to Munich, and almost out of the mountains in order to try and catch the best of the weather. We ended up deciding on the Kampenwand, as we could have a good day out with a reasonable amount of ascent, knew there would be wonderful views and that we could save our knees by getting the gondola back down. The ascent was initially up wide forest tracks, which meant that we made good progress, but in order to traverse under the impressive cliffs of the Zwölferturm we took the smaller path which ascended towards the Zwölferturm’s cliffs from the north. While the path was pretty steep up through the woods, it was certainly worth it for the initial views out towards Chiemsee over Erlbergkopf, and to see the impressive cliffs from up close. As the skies were still clear we didn’t hang around once we got up to the Steinlingalm, but instead headed straight up to the Kampenwand. This meant that. Read the full article…

Hörndlwand Climbing – Die Gnadenlosen Drei

Jul 25, 2021Alastair BegleyBavaria, Rock Climbing Short Link

With a day of hot weather and a good forecast we decided to head back to where I had recently been walking on another hot day, as I knew that it meant that we would be climbing out of the sun. We headed back to the Hörndlwand in the Chiemgau for some multi pitch traditional climbing. The crag is fairly complex which lots of corners, and routes which can be linked together. However from the guide we struggled to work out what could be linked, so decided to just stick to one of the suggestions at the start of the guide. We climbed “Die Gnadenlosen Drei” a two star UIAA 5 route which was a 200m 8 pitch route. This route linked the following routes: Nordwestsockel – UIAA 4+ – 80m – 3 pitches Merklriss – UIAA 5 – 35m – 1 pitch Mittlere Nordwand – UIAA 4 – 55m – 2 pitches The walk up was very warm, but thankfully mostly in the shade, and we were very glad to confirm that the route was entirely in the shade when we arrived at the Hörndlalm. We were also pleased. Read the full article…

Piz Buin and Dreiländerspitze

Jun 28, 2021Alastair BegleyAlpinism, Austria Short Link

Previously alpine mountaineering was firmly limited to the main holiday of the year, but having moved to Munich it is now possible to do it over a weekend, this was a concept that I spent a large amount of the weekend being amazed by! We stayed at the Wiesbadener Hütte for two nights, with an aim of climbing Piz Buin on the first day, and Dreiländerspitze on the second day if the weather was perfect. After weeks of wondering if the snow was ever going to go away, and then it being far too hot, we were lucky to have a perfect weekend with relatively cool temperatures and excellent weather. It was a brilliant weekend with great company, excellent mountains, sometimes challenging card games in a wonderful mountain hut environment with a friendly guardian. Walk In After finishing work slightly early, but evidently not early enough, we drove down to the Bielerhöhe in the Silvretta Alpen. This was an excellent place to start a walk in as the car park was at 2040m, which significantly reduced the ascent. Unfortunately there was a considerable amount of traffic on the drive down,. Read the full article…

Hörndlwand

Jun 19, 2021Alastair BegleyBavaria, Walking Short Link

With the temperatures set to be above 30°C for at least the third day in a row we had to make the decision about hiding from the heat and not making the most of the weekend, or accepting the unrelenting heat and heading out for a hot walk. We decided to head out for a walk, but starting fairly early. We left Munich at 6:30, which we thought would be early enough to guarantee a space in the car park, but we were wrong as it seemed numerous people had the same idea, thankfully we got the last space in a location very near to the car park! Due to the heat there was some additional criteria for the route compared to normal: Not too long Not too much ascent Finishing at a lake Ascent in the shade We managed to find a route which fulfilled all of these criteria in the Chiemgau, as the ascent was either in the woods, or up the north side of the mountain, and due to the bus route down the valley we could make the walk a linear route finishing at a bathing. Read the full article…

Hochplatte (Ammergauer Alpen)

Jun 16, 2021Alastair BegleyBavaria, Walking Short Link

With the weather looking better in the afternoon, Rob and I decided to stay a bit more local and head to the Hochplatte in the Ammergauer Alpen. We left the car park at 2pm, having taken the spaces from people who had presumably already finished for the day. This late start had the advantage that we were out in the better weather, and also that when we were on the summit we had the mountain to ourselves, however it had the distinct disadvantage that we were walking up the very steep ascent in the worst of the afternoon heat. The after a relatively gentle warm up for the first 10 minutes we came across an interesting “bridge” over the river. This involved balancing on logs, and then over a dodgy looking ladder. Thankfully neither of us got wet, but we did both clock the deep pools for a post walk cool off. The rest of the ascent was fairly straightforwards, if very hot in the sun. Very hot we soon arrived at the Weitalpjoch where the view over the Ammergauer Alpen really opened up, and it was certainly a fantastic. Read the full article…

Entschenkopf

Jun 13, 2021Alastair BegleyBavaria, Walking Short Link

With an easing of restrictions we were able to head somewhere with more than two households in the car, which was a very nice change. After some changes in the group size, and a few changes in objective, we settled on the Entschenkopf. We chose the route as it was relatively low for the Allgäu, which hopefully meant that it would be snow free, but the route looked like an excellent ridge and there was even a lake on the descent to cool off in. After getting to the car park just in time to get one of the last few parking spaces, we headed off up the Gaisalpbach, which was a beautiful gorge full of waterfalls and walkways. Unfortunately as we left the gorge the woods started thin out and we increasingly spent more time ascending in the sun, which was very hot! We were soon at the top off the tree line, and the start of the ascent up to the Entschenkopf ridge. This was very hot, but the views were beautiful, if very hazy. There was also a large assortment of beautiful alpine flowers, which framed the. Read the full article…