Rock Climbing on Haytor & Hound Tor

Alastair BegleyRock Climbing Short Link

Making the most of the fantastic weather at the end of March I headed over to Dartmoor on two separate occasions with Stephen and Rosie for a few days climbing. Firstly I headed to Haytor with Stephen where we climbed Honeymoon Corner (Severe), Levitation (VS 4b) which meant I learnt what bold climbing was and found it slightly scary due to there being no gear placements! Before finishing on Raven Gully (S 4a) and heading home for steak and ice cream! On Friday I headed back to Dartmoor but this time to Hound Tor with Rosie. It was her first time climbing outdoors so we started off on a nice VDiff and then progressed onto a few HVDs which were great. Mixed in with these I lead my first VS 4c called Suspension Flake which was absolutely fantastic. After we had done lots of climbing at Hound Tor we headed over to Haytor so Rosie could have a go at a Severe called Raven Gully and despite having lead it twice before I somehow managed to take a fall on it, which was also my first fall while trad climbing!

A Stunning Weekend in Snowdonia

Alastair BegleyNorth Wales, Scrambling Short Link

I have just got back from what was quite frankly an unbelievable weekend in Snowdonia. It was an odd trip as there was supposed to be 17 of us heading up but the minibus broke down en route and didn’t make it so it was just my car of 5 people. On the first day we did the standard ascent of Tryfan, albeit with a few hard section that I added in for myself as always! It was great though as there was no hill fog and for most of the time it was dry so for the first time in 5 visits I could actually see the mountain I climbed and had great views from the top without being blown off! After we had done this we headed back to the campsite to endure another night of heavy rain, but that’s fine as its going to rain at some point over the weekend so its better that its overnight! On the Sunday morning we headed up to Pen-Y-Pass car park to do Crib Goch, our plan was to just do Crib Goch and head down. We got to the car park. Read the full article…

Rock Climbing on Dartmoor

Alastair BegleyRock Climbing Short Link

Over the past few weeks there has been some fantastic weather so I have taken a few days off university and headed out to Dartmoor for some trad climbing in the sun. Trad climbing is a very new sport for me so I am currently learning all the basics of placing my own gear on easy routes though they are still really great climbs. Sitting on a belay as the sun is setting and you are belaying your partner up the rock is just fantastic. Unsurprisingly my camera comes climbing with me as always and these photos are taken by a mixture of being sat at the top looking down or by hanging on an abseil rope to get into a position half way up the climb, there are even some photos of me leading my first trad routes as I gave my camera to a friend.

Scrambling in the Lake District

Alastair BegleyLake District, Scrambling Short Link

Last weekend I ran a trip up to the Lake District with my university’s expedition society. The aim of this trip was always to do some great scrambling and thankfully we got the weather as the wind was not too strong, it didn’t rain in the daytime and we even had some nice views on both days! Last time I was in the lake district scrambling was 7 years ago where I remember climbing the grade 3*** route up Pinnacle Ridge with my parents and while we were at the top eating lunch we had a flypast by the red arrows. The routes we did this weekend were much easier but still very enjoyable and were the two grade 1*** routes in the Lake District. On Saturday we headed up Blencathra via Sharp Edge and down Hall’s Fell ridge which was a lovely route which actually took us a surprisingly small amount of time and we were finished in time for the rugby! The great thing about Sharp Edge is the view that you get of the ridge as you walk in and with people that had not done much scrambling before. Read the full article…

Winter Climbing in South Wales

Alastair BegleyNorth Wales, Winter Climbing Short Link

This cold spell that is currently all over the UK has advantages for those of us that are mad enough to go winter climbing and after some snow and a cold spell there is some great winter climbing up the north face of Pen y Fan in the Brecon Beacons. Thursday saw me take a day off university and head over to the brecons with my mum for a day out in perfect weather with sun all day and cold temperatures. Due to it not having risen above freezing all week the snow was still powdery but that didn’t matter due to it being so cold the turf had frozen up nicely which is the important thing on Pen y Fan. It was a bit of an odd way of starting a climb as to get to the base we had to walk up to the summit of Pen y Fan to descend down the other side just to climb back up the north face. Though this did mean we got fantastic views on the way up with the early morning sun. When we got to the base of the. Read the full article…

When Scottish Weather Fights Back!

Alastair BegleyWalking Short Link

Over the new year I headed up to Fort William in the Scottish Highlands for some winter mountaineering and climbing, the weather however thought otherwise! Over the 9 days we were up there we had to battle with gale force winds most days, rain/snow every day though due to a thaw there was no snow when we got there, but the fresh snow then lead onto having too much snow with a huge avalanche risk! We did however do stuff on all but one day which was the day the whole of the UK was hit with storm force winds! Over the course of the week there wasn’t a time when there was snow and a low avalanche risk so we couldn’t get in any winter climbing, though we did manage two great ridge walks in winter conditions and another aborted walk in winter conditions. On the days that we couldn’t walk due to the weather being too bad we went biking at low level, but on each day we went biking we kept finding closed paths due to storm damage, we ignored these signs on the first day and ended up having to. Read the full article…

Boxing Day Hunting & Racing

Alastair BegleyEquestrian Short Link

This morning to work off some of the Christmas food I headed over to my sister’s place of work, Venetia Williams Racing Yard, to photograph her and some of the other riders out on the gallops exercising the horses. Due to tiredness the night before I didn’t have proper directions so crossed the river wye multiple times while my satnav kept changing its mind on where it wanted me to go (turns out it thought I should be in the middle of the river!) but I did manage to get there in time, though due to it being winter did struggle with the light at 8am as the sun had not risen by this point! It was nice to do another type of equestrian photography, though it would be nice at some point to get to take photos of pointing at an event with jumps rather than just on the flat at training. After two rides out had been completed I departed to the regular boxing day hunt meet in Ledbury town centre where my parents were riding and it was wonderful to see so many people out on horseback and on foot. Read the full article…

Walking up Pen Y Fan

Alastair BegleyWalking Short Link

This weekend I headed up to the Brecon Beacons with the expedition society at my university for a weekend. It is always a really fun weekend as after the walk on the Saturday we have a Christmas dinner, this year we cooked for 40 people! The weather on the Saturday was a superb winter day with mostly clear skies, sun and a sprinkling of snow on the higher slopes of the mountain. Pen Y Fan is a mountain I climb all the time due to it being under hour from home in Bristol, but I normally climb it from the other side so it was nice to do it a different way as we walked in a loop which started and finished at the Youth Hostel we were staying at. This meant we went up from the Storey Arms and then back down another ridge on the same side of the mountain, which also had the advantage that we were sheltered from the very strong and cold wind that we were hit when we joined the ridge which went up to the summit! Due to the great weather conditions the views from. Read the full article…