Rjukan Day 1: Krokan

Alastair BegleyWinter Climbing Short Link

After a long day travelling yesterday we had a bit of a slow start this morning. So that we could make the most of the day, and get used to being on ice again we headed to the friendly single pitch venue of the Krokan. I spent the day climbing with David, while 4 others had a days tuition at the same crag. We had a good day with lots of fat ice, although some of it was a bit drippy. We started the day climbing the classic route Bullen, as there were already a few other teams on it we just went up the last free line which was one of the steeper finishes. This provided interesting climb and was an excellent way to get back into ice climbing. After this finding route which were not busy was a bit challenging, so we walked down the crag and ended up climbing ice which looked good around the WI5 Unkown route. With the current fat ice conditions none of these route were WI5 but one of the routes started to feel a bit more tough and pumpy which was great.. Read the full article…

2015 in 100 Photos

Alastair Begley100 Photos, General Short Link

Overall 2015 was a very successful year, but it certainly wasn’t without it’s ups and downs. In addition to climbing I had lots of positives in my personal life as I attended four weddings and moved in with my girlfriend. Winter I spent a lot of time out in the mountains in the winter and had some fantastic days but I would have liked to have done some more harder ice climbing. My best weekend climbing was an impromptu trip to North Wales where we climbed Western Gully and El Mancho. As ever I enjoyed taking less experienced people out climbing and I really loved learning to ski tour in the Cairngorms. My winter highlights were Summer Rock My summer climbing got off to a fantastic start with a weekend down in Cornwall at Easter. And over the next few months I went from strength-to-strength which culminated in a fantastic weekend in Pembroke at the start of June. I was just loving climbing and progressing really well into E2. Unfortunately, after Pembroke weekend I became ill and it was the end of my hard climbing for the year. I had a. Read the full article…

The Arrival of Winter

Alastair BegleyMountaineering, North Wales Short Link

Having not been out in the mountains since getting back from the Alps it was great to spend a weekend in North Wales. This was made even better by the arrival of winter and a good cosmetic covering of snow. There was a strong wind in the morning as we headed up out of Ogwen, but the air was clear and the sun was shining. We decided to head up towards the Carneddau and ended up having a fantastic day out in excellent conditions.

Salbitschijen Rock Climbing

Alastair BegleyAlpinism, Switzerland Short Link

Prior to my trip out to the alps I started doing some research into alternative plans due to the poor alpine conditions. During this research I stumbled across the Salbit, a peak in central Switzerland which has three major ridges which all provide excellent climbs of varying difficultly. In addition to the major ridges, there are numerous other multi pitch routes. Due to a week of poor weather dumping a considerable amount of snow on the high alpine peaks, we decided to stay low and do some multi-pitch rock climbing instead. The obvious destination was to head to the Salbit and attempt the classic Sudgrat, a 600m long granite ridge, and top out on the summit needle. Due to the weather window we had we decided to walk up to the Salbit hut early in the morning before heading out to climb a 13 pitch ridge which is above the hut, called the Hüttengrat. Hüttengrat, Gemsplanggenstock We competed the walk in very quickly, shaving an hour off the 2h30 book time. While we were walking in there were fantastic atmospheric views, unfortunately the atmospheric views did not continue and shortly. Read the full article…

Aiguille d’Orny Rock Climbing

Alastair BegleyRock Climbing, Switzerland Short Link

After a last minute change of plan due to an excessive amount of snow in the mountains we decided to head up to the Cabane d’Orny for two days of rock climbing. There is an easy walk in to the hut which is surrounded by excellent rock. The walk in to the hut went quickly, but we were unsure if we would be able to climb due to drizzle and being in the cloud. When we arrived at the hut it was still cloudy but the rock was mostly dry so we decided to head out and climb the Aiguille de la Cabane. When we left the hut we had good time to complete the route before dinner. However due to a route finding screw up by me, we managed to lose an hour by walking 30mins in the wrong direction… Eventually we arrived at the base of the route and set off. The climbing was immediately interesting with the crux being on the first pitch, a steep and juggy corner. After this the climbing eased off and was much easier and we made quick progress up the fantastically exposed. Read the full article…

Multi Pitch Sport Climbing in the Rhône Valley

Alastair BegleyRock Climbing, Switzerland Short Link

After descending from the Mönch we sat through a few days of bad weather in Grindelwald, as the forecast was looking better to the south west we decided to head down into the Valais and stay in the Rhône valley. We were expecting Sunday to be fairly wet all day, but when the rain stopped in the morning we decided to make the most of the unexpected good weather and head to one of the low level crags in the Rhône valley. We decided to head to Bramios which is next to Sion as it had multi pitch sport routes which appealed to both of us more than the single pitch alternatives, the multi pitch routes also had the advantage of being in the shade as it was boiling in the sun. We decided to climb Arete Sud, a five pitch f5c+. After a surprisingly tough start to the first pitch, the first few pitches were all enjoyable climbing with an excellent arete at the top of the second pitch. The third pitch wasn’t very clear from the guidebook as there were three lines from the belay. We decided to head. Read the full article…

Bernese Oberland – South to North Traverse

Alastair BegleyAlpinism, Switzerland Short Link

Due to a last minute change of plan I ended up joining Becky and David on their alps trip. As they had just spent a week in the Monte Rosa this provided a challenge due to my lack of acclimatisation. For the past few years I have always acclimatised reasonably slowing, which meant I had no idea how well I would cope with going up high quickly. As we had a four day weather window Becky and I decided to head up into the Bernese Oberland from Fiesch and climb some mountains while heading to the Jungfraujoch train station where we were going to meet Dave to climb the Mönch and Jungfrau. This enabled me to get up high, but while staying relatively low at 2850m. Day 1: Fiesch to Konkordia Hut The first day involved a long glacier walk up the Aletsch Glacier to the Konkordia hut at 2850m. The Aletsch Glacier is the largest glacier in the Alps, and walking up it certainly made us feel very small and insignificant while we were surrounded by such a large expanse of ice. The walk up the glacier seemed to take. Read the full article…

A Dream of White Horses

Alastair BegleyNorth Wales, Rock Climbing Short Link

I have been lucky enough to spend another weekend up in North Wales, the original plan for the weekend was for lots of moving together in the mountains, but poor weather combined with me feeling ill meant that I ended up spending two days at Gogarth. According to both mountain forecasts, Friday was supposed to be a sunny day. However, when we woke up in the morning we discovered that the forecasts were very wrong and it was in fact raining. After breakfast in Capel Curig we headed to Castell Helen, unfortunately on the drive over I started to feel pretty sick and it didn’t go away after the walk to the crag. I decided to abseil in anyway and we climbed Blanco, which has some fantastic climbing and amazing rock formations, given my sickness and lack of energy it felt pretty hard and at the top I decided that it was best to head back. The next day was forecast to be sunny, but given the deluge which had hit the mountains the day before we decided to head back to Gogarth for some warm sunny rock. After another. Read the full article…