Blog Posts in Category: Walking

Hochiss, Achensee

Alastair BegleyAustria, Walking Short Link

We had some friends from the UK visiting us, and wanted to make the most of the limited amount of time they had in the mountains with us. We had previously done this walk last year, when I flew off the top, and it was certainly memorable due to the relatively small amount of ascent thanks to the Rofanbahn, fantastic views, and even a little bit of scrambling. While last time there was plenty of hill fog in the morning, which made the ascent fairly grim and cold, this time we were basking in the warm sunshine, which made the walk enjoyable from the start. As we climbed up towards the Rotspitz and the view into the Karwendel and over Achense opened up it was just fantastic. From this point the entire ascent of the ridge was enjoyable, and we managed to find a location in the sun and out of the wind for lunch. As the day went on the Föhn winds started to develop, and you could clearly see Föhn clouds over the main alpine ridge. This meant that the summit was pretty chilly, combined with the high. Read the full article…

Col Bel Hike&Fly (Val di Fassa, Dolomites)

Alastair BegleyDolomites, Paragliding, Walking Short Link

After a brilliant day flying the previous day, I was unsure of what do do on my second and final day in the Dolomites as the airmass was not predicted to be very good. I was even debating if I should just head back and fly in Austria on the way home so that I got back to Munich at a more reasonable hour. As I left the hotel I had decided that I was going to head to fly at Rofan above Achensee, until I had a sudden brainwave. I realised that I was focussing too much on thermal flying, and an alternative, and equally good way to spend the day was to do a hike and fly. Which would enable me to soak up more of the wonderful scenery on offer in the Dolomites. I found this really useful page on FassaFly and decided to head up Col Bel, as it worked well with the wind direction, was a decent walk and was meant to have stunning views. I actually elected to climb the mountain via a slightly different route, as it meant that I ascended up a. Read the full article…

Latschenkopf 

Alastair BegleyBavaria, Walking Short Link

We had planned to go paragliding, but when we woke up the forecast wind in front of the impending storm had increased significantly, so we decided that we would skip flying and head out for a short morning walk before the storm arrived. We decided to do a short loop from Brauneck up to the Latschenkopf, as neither of us fancied a large descent after the descent from the Watzmann two days earlier. It was a very hot morning, at 8am on the drive from Munich it was already 28 degrees! The walk was very pleasant with lovely views, little ascent and more importantly little descent! The wind on the ridge made us glad that we had chosen to abort paragliding and just enjoy a short walk close to Munich. It was a fairly short walk, and by 11am we were descending to the all below the Idealhang ski slope. So there was one obvious choice to have, a classic Weißwurst Frühstück. After enjoying brunch, we headed back to the lift and then went for a swim in our local lake back in Munich.

Mutterberger See

Alastair BegleyAustria, Walking Short Link

After paragliding in the morning we needed to find a short walk to do in the afternoon, so that we could be back before the forecasted thunderstorms in the afternoon. The obvious choice was a walk from our local lift, the Elferbahn, but as we climbed on the Elferturm a few days previously, we decided to get the bus all the way up the valley and walk up to the Mutterberger See. The start of the walk up was very hot and up a fairly uninspiring large track, but after about 60% of the ascent we finally turned off onto smaller walking paths and the views became a lot better. We enjoyed some lunch while admiring the view down the valley, before continuing onto the lake. We took the opportunity to cool down and both enjoyed a refreshing swim in the surprisingly warm mountain like at 2500m. After drying off and finishing our lunch we set off on the descent, which was lovely as it contoured around up high with wonderful views down the Stubai valley. Unfortunately the day was getting hotter and muggier which meant that we were both. Read the full article…

Hochries

Alastair BegleyBavaria, Walking Short Link

Due to a very unstable forecast we wanted to do a short walk in the morning which was close to Munich. We ended up deciding on a circuit including the Hochries. As we set off in the morning the weather was lovely, however as we approached the ridge the cloud started to build and we found ourselves in the cloud hoping that this wasn’t a sign of an impending storm, earlier than forecast. Nonetheless we continued and enjoyed some fleeting atmospheric views and some wonderful views in the brief moments without any cloud. As we descended from Feichteck the cloudbase seemed to lift slightly and meant that we had enjoyable views while walking along the ridge to Hochries. Here we enjoyed an early lunch at the Alm on the summit, before making a hasty retreat back down to the car.

Heimgarten

Alastair BegleyBavaria, Walking Short Link

Having previously climbed Heimgarten via the classic traverse from Herzogstand, we decided to climb it from the other side as it was an appropriate length and distance from Munich to do with Lou, Adam and Lottie. The walk initially gained altitude easily in the forrest, but we soon emerged into spring alpine meadows, which were covered in flowers. Thankfully there was a wooden walkway as some of the meadows were fairly wet, although as Adam found out, some of the wood was fairly slippery! The ascent then took us up towards the summit with wonderful views over Kochelsee, Heimgarten and the flatlands to the north. Unfortunately as we approached the summit the cloud really started to build, but we still enjoyed good views before stopping the hut for a drink and some cake. The walk down was very pleasant, and we soon warmed up after the fairly chilly stop at the hut! We took a detour near the carpark to walk down next to some waterfalls, which I took my first post-walk “swim” of the year in to clean off before driving to the campsite.

Rotwand

Alastair BegleyBavaria, Walking Short Link

After a wonderful winter of piste skiing, ski touring and ski mountaineering, I was really looking forward to getting back out walking in the mountains. It feels surprising that the first walk was at the end of April, but as the ski season just seemed to keep going we just kept skiing! Unfortunately the weather running up to the weekend wasn’t looking that great, but it at least looked dry on Saturday morning, on some forecasts. Thanks the the enthusiasm of Adam and Rob we headed out despite the dull forecast, and what a good decision that was! Adam had to be back in Munich for 2pm, so we had a relatively early start, which combined with the weather meant that the mountains were very quiet. As we were driving to the carpark at Spitzingsee there was plenty of low cloud and it looked grim, thankfully as we approached the car park we burst through the inversion layer and were treated to blue skies with some high cloud. The walk up to the Taubenstein was fairly short and as we approached the col we were treated to a wonderful view. Read the full article…

Sulzpitze & Neunerköpfle Hike&Fly

Alastair BegleyAustria, Paragliding, Walking Short Link

With another perfect autumnal day we headed down to the Allgäu to make the most of being able to go into Austria, and to enjoy some more hike&fly fun. While we could have just walked up the Neunerköpfle, we decided to take our heavy bags there the long way by walking from Tannheim up towards the Visalpsee, steeply up to the Sulzspitze and then along the ridge to the Neunerköpfle. The morning was clear and cold, which we certainly felt while walking along the valley towards the Visalpsee. After some unnecessary ascent due to following a sign rather than my planned route we were soon at the start of the ascent. Due to some rockfall we followed the new temporary path through the woods at the bottom, before joining the rather steep track up. The ascent felt fairly tough with the bags, and resulted in being both hot and cold at the same time, thankfully we were eventually treated to a view of the wonderful Gaishorn, before returning back into the woods. After a while we emerged from the woods, and then into the sun and from here the day. Read the full article…