Seehorn Nordwestgrat

Alastair BegleyAustria, Rock Climbing Short Link

Despite it looking very unlikely earlier in the week, on Saturday George and I headed down to Sankt Ulrich am Pillersee in Austria to climb the north west ridge of the Seehorn (Nordwestgrat/Astenriedlgrat). I started my day with a very early train journey from Munich to Kufstein. It was a beautiful morning with a brilliant sunrise, just a shame the only chance I had to photograph it was at a train station! After meeting George in Kufstein a short drive took us to the start of the route, which looked a long way above us! During the first 3.2km we ascended over 1000m, thankfully most of the ascent was in the woods so we were out of the morning sun. When we emerged from the woods we were treated to brilliant views over the Austrian mountains, there is certainly a lot to do here! The traverse around to the start of the route was fairly awkward and poorly marked, but with only a few wrong turns we were soon at the start of the climb. Unfortunately at this point the cloud rolled in and we lost our views, which as. Read the full article…

Starnberger See

Alastair BegleyBavaria, Landscape Short Link

Munich is very close to a number of large lakes, some of which are easily assessable using the local transport network. So I was keen to make the most of my travel card and head over to one of them for sunset. Unfortunately due to the amount of cloud over towards the mountains it was not the most brilliant sunset ever, but I will certainly be back. It was just a 20min train ride from the central station! Everything ended up being timed perfectly, I got home from work and immediately headed out. Walked around the lake to find compositions until sunset, then headed back and timed it perfectly for the fast train back to Munich. It was really great to be out with my camera, I am feeling a bit rusty at landscape photography so will make the effort to get out more and enjoy the brilliant local scenery.

Reintalersee Klettersteig

Alastair BegleyAustria, Via Ferrata Short Link

Having moved to Munich last weekend this was my first opportunity to make the most of living an hour from the Alps. Adam and I headed into Austria to the Reintalersee. As it was a forecast to be a really hot day, and to avoid the traffic we set off very early. Given how hot it was in the afternoon, and how many people were on the klettersteig by the time we finished this was definitely a good idea. The route had a short and reasonably steep walk in, followed by a fairly steep start. Unfortunately the route involved lots of ’cable pulling’ rather than rock climbing, but it was still enjoyable with excellent views. As it was our first route in a while we decided not to go for the hard “E” variant and just to stick to the normal route. This meant we were able to enjoy a lovely traverse in an outstanding position with fantastic views, which as made even better as it was in the shade! Soon we harder route rejoined our route and we just had one final section to do, which again was fairly. Read the full article…

Siegestor

Alastair BegleyBavaria, Landscape Short Link

Having moved to Munich the night before I was keen to get out and do something on my first night living in a new city. After a bit of research I decided to head out to Siegestor which is a triumphal arch which is crowned with a statue of Bavaria. It was not my most successful blue hour photography escapade, however it was enjoyable to be out and is a memory of my first night in Munich. I struggled to get in the correct position with the road and various bits of roadworks which were going on.