Paternkofel – Innerkofler und Schartenweg Klettersteig

Alastair BegleyDolomites, Via Ferrata Short Link

I have been wanting to visit Tre Cime/Drei Zinnen for a while now, and a perfect weather weekend at the end of September seemed like the perfect time. We headed down to the Dolomites after work on Friday and could head straight to the Tre Cime car park as overnight parking is allowed. As we arrived were were blown away by the number of campervans that were already there, but we managed to find a nice space which was very flat and not boxed in by all of the other vans. My day started by waking up in time for sunrise, which was very enjoyable, if a tad cold first thing in the morning. The car park is really high at around 2300m which means that without much ascent you can be on the top of a pretty high mountain which makes the views outstandingly good. Our objective for the day was the Paternkofel, via the Innerkofler Klettersteig on the ascent, and the Schartenweg Klettersteig on the decent. This provided a longer day out than the standard route, avoided the scree gully which is described as unpleasant in the guidebook. Read the full article…

Kranzhorn Sunset

Alastair BegleyAustria, Bavaria, Landscape, Walking Short Link

After doing a sunset hike up the Rotwand a few days earlier, we decided to do another sunset hike after work. As it was a post work hike, with an early autumn sunset, it had to be both close to Munich and a short walk. This meant that the Kranzhorn seemed like the obvious choice, as it was an easy drive on the Motorway towards Kufstein, before parking at a high Wanderparkplatz which meant that we only had 425m of ascent and 2.7km to walk to get to the summit. After a quick ascent we were at the summit in 50 mins, which gave us plenty of time to admire the view before the sunset and to eat our sandwiches. I couldn’t find any compositions which had any foreground interest, so it was a simple composition just consisting of the view towards the setting sun. There were some high clouds which remained after sunset which gave a beautiful afterglow. The we descended while it was still just about light to the Kranzhorn Schutzhütte, and from here we descended the longer way down the easy track, which was definitely faster in. Read the full article…

Rotwand Sunset

Alastair BegleyBavaria, Landscape, Walking Short Link

Not wanting to get up early to head to the mountains after Oktoberfest the evening before, we decided to head out for a sunset hike up the Rotwand. As we set off from the car park the weather was looking pretty ominous and we were certainly not optimistic for the sunset conditions. As we made our ascent the conditions started to improve and we enjoyed wonderful views with the landscape intermixed between sun and shade which created a lovely contrast. As we made good time on the walk we decided to head to the Rotwandhaus for a pre-sunset dinner, which was certainly better than the sandwiches that we had packed. As sunset approached we headed up to the Rotwand from the Rotwandhaus, and by this point most of the clouds had vanished which meant that we had excellent views in every direction. The highlights were the view towards the Großglockner, in the soft golden hour light with the rising moon above it and the view directly towards the setting sun over the Bavarian Alps. As there were no clouds left after sunset to catch the afterglow, we headed off early. Read the full article…

Soča River

Alastair BegleyLandscape, Slovenia, Walking Short Link

On the penultimate day of our holiday we decided to do a valley walk down the beautiful Soča river, renowned for its gorges and the colour of the water, it really is that colour! Our plan was go straight to the campsite for the evening and then catch a bus up the valley so that we could easily finish our walk at the campsite with zero faff. We were able to check in early at the campsite, and after a quick turnaround we quickly did the 20min walk to the bus stop. Unfortunately the bus never turned up, or at least it was over 40 mins late, however thankfully we were able to hitch a lift up the valley directly to our ideal start place. The spot where we joined the Soča river was immediately beautiful and the first photos of the day were taken, before we headed up into the Korita Mlinarice, a gorge which is just off the main river and is well known for its waterfalls. The walk was mostly very close to the river, which gave plenty of photo opportunities, some of which resulted in me. Read the full article…

Ljubljana Day Trip

Alastair BegleyLandscape, Slovenia Short Link

On our way back to the mountains from the coast we stopped off in Ljubljana for the day. It was a really beautiful city with a variety of architecture, great views over the city from the castle, lots of regional shops, an outstanding market and full of friendly people. During the day we did a city tour and then explored the city, before enjoying dinner at a restaurant which showcased local food whilst remaining very good value, before heading back to the van. On the way back to the van we walked along the river to capture the city at night, which in my opinion is one of the best ways to capture the atmosphere of a city, especially when there is a river as the city lights and reflections bring the city to life.

Izola sunsets

Alastair BegleyLandscape, Slovenia Short Link

Due to a poor weather forecast in the mountains we headed down to Izola on the Slovenian coastline. Living in Munich the mountains are very close, but the sea is a long way away, which meant that it was great to be able to drive from the mountains to the cost in only 90mins. On the way out to dinner I was able to capture the sunset as we walked past the harbour, before a lovely dinner with a tasting menu consisting of local seafood and Slovenian wine.

Triglav Seven Lakes Valley

Alastair BegleyLandscape, Slovenia, Walking Short Link

The Triglav seven lakes valley is very well known valley and is renowned as being an excellent but long approach to climb Triglav via a route with no technical difficulty. We however decided to head into the valley and explore some of the lakes as a day walk. Despite the walk being a “valley walk”, it was by no means an insignificant day out as we covered 18km with 1000m of ascent. The walk was very enjoyable, but we did spend a lot of the day in the forrest and it would perhaps have been better to have started earlier so we could have made our way further up the valley to the next lake, or even to have made a circuit. The walk initially took us up in the forrest to Koča na Planini pri Jezeru, where there are a number of old huts, along with a modern hut, in which it is possible to stay. After enjoying the views, it was straight back into the forrest again until we emerged at the remote settlement at Planini Dedno Polje. Due to the time we didn’t hang around here, or. Read the full article…

Mala Mojstrovka North Arête (Severni raz)

Alastair BegleyRock Climbing, Slovenia Short Link

The north arete on Mall Mojstrovka had been recommended to us by a number of people, so we set off back to the north face of Mala Mojstrovka, this time heading past the klettersteig and onto the start of the climb. We found the climb using the following topos, which we found online: The climb was very mixed, some some excellent pitches on great rock, but with plenty of easy but almost unprotected pitches up loose rock. It may be related to being out of practice, but I found route finding on the route pretty difficult, especially up the easy sections, however with the use of the above topos I think we just about managed to stay on route most of the time. Due to the time taken to route find we ended up taking quite a while on the climb, which was added to by the time it took us to commit to the horrendous looking exit as described in the Bergsteigen topo, as it looked so improbable from the start of it. Eventually we were at the end of the climb and made out way up to the. Read the full article…