Blog Posts in Category: Scrambling

2023 in 100 Photos

Alastair Begley100 Photos, Austria, Bavaria, Dolomites, General, Germany, Italy, Landscape, Mountaineering, Paragliding, Rock Climbing, Scrambling, Ski Touring, Skiing, Slovenia, Via Ferrata, Walking, Winter Walking Short Link

All to quickly it was once again the end of another year and time to reflect on the year. This year we really started to settle into our routine of living an hour from the Alps, with travel being much easier and having settled into Munich life, both professionally and socially. Unfortunately at the start of the year Becky had an accident and badly broke her wrist which was also misdiagnosed which delayed her recovery. This significantly impacted our year as we were unable to climb, klettersteig or ride our bikes for most of the year. The highlights of the year for me have to be Becky’s continued progression at skiing with her initial foray into ski touring, my ski mountaineering adventure on the Ruderhofspitze, my continued paragliding progression with my first flight over 100km, our wonderful holiday together to Slovenia and a beautiful walk near munich with a combination of snow&autumn colours. Winter Winter continued with lots of weekends away skiing with family, friends from the UK and friends from Munich, it seemed like we had a constant stream of visitors which as wonderful. Becky’s progression continued and she. 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…

Seana Bhraigh

Alastair BegleyScotland, Scrambling, Walking Short Link

Due to the morning being better again we head another early start for the very remote Seana Bhraigh. We made good use of our bikes on the approach which was down good estate tracks. Our route was up the imposing ridge on the east side of Luchd Choire up An Sgurr and then along to Creag an Duine. To avoid cross the river twice we decided to make the most of the dry conditions and cross the heathery ground which would normally be horribly boggy. This seemed to work for us, but usually would probably be horrible! The ridge looked very imposing from the bottom, but after a very steep approach up a grassy slope it was generally very straightforward. There was a very exposed scramble to get up to the peak of the ridge, followed by an easy but exposed downclimb, before a short wall which was even more exposed than the previous sections. Unfortunately, as we got to the top the cloud had started to come in, but as we descended on the route around to the Munro we dropped out of the cloud and were greeted with. Read the full article…

Suilven

Alastair BegleyScotland, Scrambling, Walking Short Link

Due to a very mixed weather forecast as we left Edinburgh we did not really have an idea about what we were going to do the next day, other than something in the north west of Scotland. On the drive up, we decided to head all the way up to Lochinver with the aim of climbing Suilven the next day. As the weather was best in the morning we had to set a very early alarm, which was not appreciated after the late drive. In the morning the weather looked beautiful, and there was even some unexpected sun. Unfortunately, as I was looking outside the van window in the morning I could also see a swarm of midges, which took delight in eating me as I sorted the bikes out. We attempted to save some time by cycling along the track, but we ended up dumping them fairly early as the track was hard going and we didn’t think they were helping much. Unfortunately the track soon improved and we were regretting our decision! The climb up to Suilven is very steep, but thanks to the new path was over. Read the full article…

May Bank Holiday in the Lake District

Alastair BegleyLake District, Rock Climbing, Scrambling, Walking Short Link

We headed up the the Lake District for the first May bank holiday this year. After a terrible journey up with what seemed like most of the rest of the country who were also relocating for the weekend, we eventually arrived at the campsite in Langdale. While the weather forecast was lovely for the weekend, it was forecast to be very cold. As we wanted to climb we elected to stay low and headed to Raven Crag in Langdale. As a three we climbed The Original Route which was a lovely climb, and it was great to be back outside on rock and enjoying it! On the second day we went for a big circular walk from the campsite. We headed up to Silver Howe and then up the ridge above Langdale towards Pavey Ark. After some initial, and very unexpected, rain the weather soon improved and we were left with beautiful views. From Pavey Ark we scrambled up the brilliant Jack’s Rake before heading to all of the Langdale pikes as well as a bonus wainwright. After the long descent back down to the Langdale valley, we enjoyed a. Read the full article…

Weekend in North Wales

Alastair BegleyNorth Wales, Scrambling, Walking Short Link

I spent last weekend catching up with friends from University in North Wales. Thankfully we were treated to some excellent weather on Saturday. As were were a large group we decided to stick to grade 1 scrambling ground so that we could stay together as a group. We elected to avoid the classics which we have all done before, and we headed around to the back side of the Carneddau to climb the Llech Ddu spur which is a *** grade 1 scramble. The walk up towards the black ladders was lovely and very warm in the morning sun, and were soon at the start of the steep climb up to the start of the scrambling, and into the cold wind. The scramble was brilliant, there were outstanding views out towards Anglesey and there was just the right balance of interest to keep everyone engaged without terrifying anyone. After the scramble we walked over to Carnedd Llewelyn, before descending back down to the hut we were staying in. After an enjoyable evening with chilli and games we awoke to a less favourable forecast on the Sunday. So we enjoyed a mostly dry. Read the full article…

Clogwyn y Person Arete & Crib Goch

Alastair BegleyNorth Wales, Scrambling Short Link

We had an excellent weekend in North Wales in Snowdonia prior to Lou and Mango leaving for Munich. The first day was meant to be fairly damp, but we enjoyed a surprisingly dry day on the classic north ridge of Tryfan. Instead of heading straight down we stayed high and headed over to Y Foel Goch which was an enjoyable end to the day and it was great to see a different perspective of Snowdonia. The second day had an excellent forecast so we decided to head for the classic scramble of Clogwyn y Person Arete which climbs a ridge up towards Crib y Ddysgl. The scramble was excellent, with sustained scrambling for numerous pitches before the ridge eased and we were able to walk up to the top. It was just a shame that the route was in the shade! Unfortunately by the time we got to the top, Snowdon had started to form it’s own weather system which meant that we were still not in the promised sunshine. Thankfully we were still well below the cloud which meant that the traverse of Crib Goch was as stunning as. Read the full article…

Bernia Ridge Traverse

Alastair BegleyCosta Blanca, Scrambling Short Link

After a few days of climbing we decided to enjoy the excellent weather with a mountaineering day out. We headed for the classic traverse of the Bernia, which is an excellent scramble which is like Crib Goch on steroids. For it’s entire length it has interesting and often exposed scrambling, with a very short section of climbing in the middle. As the guidebook said that the estimated time was 5-10 hours we had a fairly early start to ensure that we had enough light, this had the added advantage that we weren’t walking up to the start of the ridge in the full heat of the day. As soon as we started scrambling along the ridge we were greeted with excellent exposure, interesting scrambling with some enjoyable down climbing. We made really good time along the technical section and we were soon at the single graded pitch, which was as expected a bolt ladder which needed no gear. The climbing was up a very strange section of rock which had three vertical fins which were attached to a weird curving ridge. From here a short section of scrambling up the ridge. Read the full article…