Blog Posts in Category: Mountaineering

Brecherspitz – Neuhaus to Spitzingsattel

Alastair BegleyBavaria, Walking Short Link

We headed back to the classic circuit of the Brecherspitz with some friends who were visiting Munich as it is very easy todo with public transport and is also an enjoyable route with an nice ridge, wonderful summit views, an excellent Alm on the descent and a bus to save the knees from Spitzingsattel. We made quick time up to the Ankel Alm, which was unfortunately shut in the week due to it being the end of the season, although this did mean that we could eat our lunch by the alm. It was here that we started to see some lovely autumnal colours appearing on the deciduous trees. Once we joined the ridge the views were wonderful, and just kept improving as we climbed higher. The north ridge was fairly quiet which was pleasant, although this did give us a shock when we arrived at the very busy summit. After admiring the views and a few photos we started the descent down to the Obere Firstalm for a well earned beer and Kaiserschmarrn, before the easy descent down the road to the Spitzingsattel.

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…

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…

Kranzhorn Sunset

Alastair BegleyAustria, Bavaria, Landscape, Walking Short Link

After doing a sunset hike up the Rotwand a few days earlier, we decided to do another sunset hike after work. As it was a post work hike, with an early autumn sunset, it had to be both close to Munich and a short walk. This meant that the Kranzhorn seemed like the obvious choice, as it was an easy drive on the Motorway towards Kufstein, before parking at a high Wanderparkplatz which meant that we only had 425m of ascent and 2.7km to walk to get to the summit. After a quick ascent we were at the summit in 50 mins, which gave us plenty of time to admire the view before the sunset and to eat our sandwiches. I couldn’t find any compositions which had any foreground interest, so it was a simple composition just consisting of the view towards the setting sun. There were some high clouds which remained after sunset which gave a beautiful afterglow. The we descended while it was still just about light to the Kranzhorn Schutzhütte, and from here we descended the longer way down the easy track, which was definitely faster in. Read the full article…

Rotwand Sunset

Alastair BegleyBavaria, Landscape, Walking Short Link

Not wanting to get up early to head to the mountains after Oktoberfest the evening before, we decided to head out for a sunset hike up the Rotwand. As we set off from the car park the weather was looking pretty ominous and we were certainly not optimistic for the sunset conditions. As we made our ascent the conditions started to improve and we enjoyed wonderful views with the landscape intermixed between sun and shade which created a lovely contrast. As we made good time on the walk we decided to head to the Rotwandhaus for a pre-sunset dinner, which was certainly better than the sandwiches that we had packed. As sunset approached we headed up to the Rotwand from the Rotwandhaus, and by this point most of the clouds had vanished which meant that we had excellent views in every direction. The highlights were the view towards the Großglockner, in the soft golden hour light with the rising moon above it and the view directly towards the setting sun over the Bavarian Alps. As there were no clouds left after sunset to catch the afterglow, we headed off early. Read the full article…

Soča River

Alastair BegleyLandscape, Slovenia, Walking Short Link

On the penultimate day of our holiday we decided to do a valley walk down the beautiful Soča river, renowned for its gorges and the colour of the water, it really is that colour! Our plan was go straight to the campsite for the evening and then catch a bus up the valley so that we could easily finish our walk at the campsite with zero faff. We were able to check in early at the campsite, and after a quick turnaround we quickly did the 20min walk to the bus stop. Unfortunately the bus never turned up, or at least it was over 40 mins late, however thankfully we were able to hitch a lift up the valley directly to our ideal start place. The spot where we joined the Soča river was immediately beautiful and the first photos of the day were taken, before we headed up into the Korita Mlinarice, a gorge which is just off the main river and is well known for its waterfalls. The walk was mostly very close to the river, which gave plenty of photo opportunities, some of which resulted in me. Read the full article…

Triglav Seven Lakes Valley

Alastair BegleyLandscape, Slovenia, Walking Short Link

The Triglav seven lakes valley is very well known valley and is renowned as being an excellent but long approach to climb Triglav via a route with no technical difficulty. We however decided to head into the valley and explore some of the lakes as a day walk. Despite the walk being a “valley walk”, it was by no means an insignificant day out as we covered 18km with 1000m of ascent. The walk was very enjoyable, but we did spend a lot of the day in the forrest and it would perhaps have been better to have started earlier so we could have made our way further up the valley to the next lake, or even to have made a circuit. The walk initially took us up in the forrest to Koča na Planini pri Jezeru, where there are a number of old huts, along with a modern hut, in which it is possible to stay. After enjoying the views, it was straight back into the forrest again until we emerged at the remote settlement at Planini Dedno Polje. Due to the time we didn’t hang around here, or. Read the full article…