Blog Posts in Category: Via Ferrata

Achensee Fünf Gipfel Klettersteig

Alastair BegleyVia Ferrata Short Link

After bailing on an alpine route due to heavy rain on both the walk in and the summit day we were at a bit of a loss as to what to do the next day. After much deliberation looking at multiple weather forecasts, and the Austrian Klettersteig book we decided to head to Achensee to do the Fünf Gipfel Klettersteig as the forecast was for a sunny day until mid afternoon. Unfortunately the forecast did not come to fruition as we had a largely cloudy, albeit atmospheric day until as we descended from the third summit it started to rain very heavily. Up until the point the rain arrived the route was brilliant, a short walk from the cable car station took us to the easy Klettersteig up to the first summit of Haidachstellwand. The descent from this was a fairly long Klettersteig which took us a while, but it was constantly interesting and great fun. A short walk then took us to the main Klettersteig of the day, up the obvious face of the Roßkopf. This route was fairly steep, involved a lot of cable pulling and lots of. Read the full article…

Fernau Klettersteig

Alastair 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…

Summer Holiday 2020 Summary

Alastair BegleyBavaria, Dolomites, Landscape, Mountaineering, Rock Climbing, Via Ferrata Short Link

We have recently finished a brilliant holiday in the German Alps and the Dolomites. It was great to have a holiday with excellent conditions after the mixed year so far due to Coronavirus. This post contains a summary of the photos from the trip in 27 photos. We started the trip with a day trip into the Bavarian Alps from Munich, due to the next 2 days having pretty poor weather (and the only bad weather we had on the trip). Mittenwalder Höhenweg Klettersteig After a day in Munich we then drove down to the Brenta Dolomites to do a hut-to-hut trip through the high mountains. These via ferratas are very different to the rest of the Dolomites and can be best described as ledges and ladders in surreal positions. The two day trip through the mountains was incredible and is highly recommended. Brenta Dolomites Day 1/2: Sentiero Alfredo Benini & Sentiero Bocchette Alte Sunset, Astro and Sunrise from Rifugio Alimonta Brenta Dolomites Day 2/2: Via delle Bocchette Centrale We then had a relocation day to the central Dolomites. For the rest of the trip we based ourselves in the. Read the full article…

Val Duron Via Ferrata – Laurenzi-Molignon

Alastair BegleyDolomites, Via Ferrata Short Link

On our second day from the Rifugio Alpe di Tires we were going to do the Laurenzi-Molignon via ferrata, which crosses the impressive ridge which you look at as you walk up Val Duron. The description in the Rockfax guidebooks described it has having lots of poorly protected downclimbing on loose cable, thankfully since the guide has been written the route has been fully re-equipped so it is now well protected with good cable. After a short approach from the hut we were soon at the start of the cable. The first section was very easy and took us up to a nice section of ridge walking with fantastic views over Val Duron. We also found a surprising bench which was ideally situated, if only it was late enough to have lunch at that point! We were soon at the start of the proper route, and it certainly did not disappoint on exposure! We spent a significant amount of time scrambling with a massive drop which felt like it went all the way down to Val Duron below us. The new cable meant that it always felt safe, and the. Read the full article…

Val Duron Via Ferrata – Sentiero Massimiliano

Alastair BegleyDolomites, Via Ferrata Short Link

With an excellent multi day weather window we decided to head up to Rifugio Alpe di Tires which is situated at the top of the beautiful Val Duron. From this rifugio there are two classic via ferratas which are known for having stunning views, and they certainly did not disappoint. We decided not to pay for the shuttle bus up to the start of Val Duron and made the walk up, this was steep right from the start and not a particularly pleasant way to start the day. Thankfully we were rewarded with a beautiful view up Val Duron towards the col which was hiding the rifugio. The walk along Val Duron was beautiful, and we made great time so before we knew it we were at top of Passo Duron. All that was then left was a final ascent up to the hut. After arriving at the hut we discarded most of our kit and headed out for the short via ferrata. It is graded as VF2B, so we decided to leave our kit off and only put it on if we felt like we needed it. This made. Read the full article…

Brenta Dolomites Day 2/2: Via delle Bocchette Centrale

Alastair BegleyDolomites, Via Ferrata Short Link

Continuing on from our first day and night on the Via delle Bocchette we set off after a leisurely breakfast on the classic central section of the traverse, the Via delle Bocchette Centrale via ferrata. The start of the day was a short climb up to the Bocca degli Armi, this is the section of the route which forced us to carry our crampons and ice axe as it involved a short cross of a dry glasier. We were not sure if we would actually need them, but when we got there we were very glad that we had them, even if only for 100m! When we got to the col it became apparent that there was a brilliant cloud inversion to the south, unlike the cloudless skies to the north. This provided us with yet more atmospheric views, but as we were earlier today the clouds remained firmly in the valleys. An strenuous start quickly lead us up to the highlight of the two days. The route crossed improbable ledges as it traversed around Torre di Brenta and Campanile Alto. No words can really describe how brilliant this section. Read the full article…

Brenta Dolomites Day 1/2: Sentiero Alfredo Benini & Sentiero Bocchette Alte

Alastair BegleyDolomites, Via Ferrata Short Link

We decided to start our holiday with a hut to hut in the Brenta Dolomites on the Via delle Bocchette, an area known for it’s stunning mountains which are surprisingly accessible due to the via ferratas which wind their way along ledges with ladders whenever the terrain becomes technical. Classic traverses tend to range between 3 and 5 days, however after much debating we decided to link days 1 & 2 together by doing Sentiero Alfredo Benini & Sentiero Bocchette Alte as a long first day which took us just over 8 hours. This took us to the stunning Rifugio Alimonta where we spent the night, before we completed the classic Via delle Bocchette Centrale on the second day. The descent out to the valley was also surprisingly enjoyable. We caught the first lift up and made good time to the start of the first via ferrata (Sentiero Alfredo Benini), however it soon became clear that we had misjudged the temperatures and were regretting our choice of clothing, and the number of layers which were packed in our bags. The start of the via ferrata was a good sign of. Read the full article…

Mittenwalder Höhenweg Klettersteig

Alastair BegleyBavaria, Via Ferrata Short Link

The start of our holiday had some fairly mixed weather forecast, so instead of going away and sitting in a campsite in the rain for two days we stayed local to Munich and made the most of the short period of excellent weather. With the potential for storms to come in later in the day, we were after a mid length route which started with a lift so that we were able to be high early to enjoy the good conditions. As it turned out we would have had all day, but it was the sensible decision to make sure we were not high on the mountains with storms forecast. Looking through the book of German Klettersteigs there were loads to choose from, but the Mittenwalder Höhenweg really caught my eye as it was an easy route which traversed along the top of a long ridge. We were expecting it to be fairly busy given that it was a Saturday but thankfully it wasn’t too bad. After a non socially distanced lift ride we were soon at 2250m and looking forward to starting the route. The views as soon as. Read the full article…