Blog Posts in Category: Austria

Grüblspitze Skitour&Fly

Alastair BegleyAustria, Paragliding, Ski Touring Short Link

After a late season dump of snow, and with a slightly uncertain forecast for xc paragliding, I decided to make the most of the snowy conditions and head out for my first ski tour of the year, and my first skitour&fly. Given the recent snowfall careful route choice was necessary, especially as I was heading out alone. I ended up settling on the Grüblspitze in the Tuxertal, which had the added advantage that I could get a lift into the Zillertal with Becky who was skiing at Zillertal Arena. I got the local train up the Zillertal to Mayrhofen before changing onto a bus which took me to the start of the route. The first section of the route up from the valley was untracked, which made me worried that I was going to be breaking trail the entire way up, thankfully this was not the case! The conditions were wonderful with clear skies, wintery scenes due to all the fresh snow and cold air. The only downside was my complete lack of fitness, having essentially done no exercise since November due to our trip to Southern Africa and the. Read the full article…

2025 in 100 Photos

Alastair Begley100 Photos, Africa, Austria, Bavaria, Dolomites, General, Germany, Italy, Landscape, Mountaineering, Namibia, Paragliding, Road Cycling, Skiing, South Africa, Wildlife Short Link

2025 was certainly a year that I couldn’t have predicted at the end of 2024, it started with difficulty as Becky was not able to be very mobile due to an operation on her second knee. She was then allowed to ski prior to the end of winter, but in spring still wasn’t really allowed to do much walking, so she focussed on road biking and I focussed on paragliding. As far as a paragliding season goes, it was a pretty spectacular one, with my absolute highlight being flying 200km through the alps while crossing the main alpine ridge with spectacular views over glaciated peaks from above. I also completed my first two competitions which was a great learning experience. During the year I knew that this was my last year on my secondment, but as I didn’t want to leave Munich I explored my options to get a local job here. In July I was successful which meant that at the end of the year I left Rolls-Royce, a job which I have loved and thought would be my forever job. When I left in December, it ended over. Read the full article…

Ochsenkopf and Stanser Joch Hike&Fly

Alastair BegleyAustria, Paragliding Short Link

Originally I had other plans for today, but the forecast was just too great in the alps for those plans, so I ended up heading to the Stanser Joch near the Achensee for a hike and fly. I had the expectation of wonderful views to the south and the main alpine ridge and to the north over the Achensee. I decided to walk to up the Weißenbachtal to get to the summit, as I thought this might provide more varied routes than the other option which follows the eastern ridge. I am very glad I chose this as it meant that I made a detour to the Ochsenkopf, which was the highlight of the walk. The walk up the Weißenbachtal was up easy forest track to the Weißenbachsattel, which was also surprisingly windy at times given the forecast for almost nil wind up to quite a high altitude. From the Weißenbachsattel the forest track turned into single track, which was partly covered by snow at times depending on the aspect. From here the ascent became steeper and my lack of fitness was really showing, especially where the snow became deeper,. Read the full article…

Birnhorn Überschreitung Hike&Fly

Alastair BegleyAustria, Paragliding, Walking Short Link

Having booked the Passauer Hütte months ago we were excited that it looked like we had a perfect weather weekend as we approached the trip, and I was even happier that it looked like it should work for a hike&fly to save me about 1800hm of descent. After some discussions we settled on the northern approach to the hut as despite having 300hm more of ascent, it was a lot more gradual and on a better path, which got the vote for the descent. The start of the approach was up through the woods, however as we climbed higher we started other get fleeting views to the north into the Steinernes Meer. Eventually we emerged out of the woods and could enjoy the view fully, and it really was spectacular. As we arrived at the col by the hut we were suddenly greeted with the view south towards the main alpine ridge, something which was great to suddenly emerge and see in one go. We enjoyed our afternoon sitting on the veranda at the hut while eating some food, having a few drinks and soaking in the wonderful view. After. Read the full article…

Paragliding 200km from Italy into Austria over the Stubai Alps and with views of the Großglockner

Alastair BegleyAustria, Italy, Paragliding Short Link

For my second flight with my new wing I thought I would fly back in the direction of home from Speikboden in Südtirol. The plan was to do the first leg of the classic 200km FAI triangle by heading along the Pustertal towards Sterzing, crossing the Brenner above Sterzing, before heading up the Ridnauntal to the Stubai alps. From the Stubai alps the plan was to head back down the Stubaital, cross the Brenner again to fly into the Zillertal next to Hintertux, before heading over the Gerlos pass and into the Pinzgau. From here I had a rough plan to fly north to either Kufstein or Kössen, depending on what the conditions looked like. The first section of the route went very quickly and I was soon at the crossing of the Brenner pass above Sterzing. With the high cloudbase this was not difficult and then with one more climb at the start of the Ridnauntal, I was able to fly all the way up to the high Stubai mountains without making a single turn. Up here the thermals were weaker and I should have turned up to cloudbase. Read the full article…

West down the Pustertal from Sillian

Alastair BegleyAustria, Road Cycling Short Link

For ease the next day, we decided that we would do another cycle from the campsite, rather than having to move the van. So instead of heading east down to Lienz, we headed in the opposite direction with the plan of cycling around 60km. Again the route was excellent with mostly very good surfaces and almost no cycling on roads.

Sillian to Lienz and back

Alastair BegleyAustria, Road Cycling Short Link

After wild parking in a beautiful location on the first night, and enjoying a wonderful pizza nearby, we definitely wanted to be in a campsite for the next night given the heat. Therefore we decided to head to near Sillian where there was a nice campsite which was still reasonably priced. Unfortunately we could not check in until the afternoon, so we parked next to the campsite and started our cycle straight from there. The plan was to cycle along the Pustertal cycle path down to Lienz, which was all on an excellent surface and all either car free or on very quiet roads. The cycle was really beautiful, the only downside being that it was down all the way out, and up all the way back!

Paragliding 94km from Wallberg to Saalfelden

Alastair BegleyAustria, Bavaria, Paragliding Short Link

With a moderate westerly wind I decided to head back to Wallberg to fly as far east as I could. Unfortunately I wasn’t feeling that well in the morning, so I wasn’t entirely sure how the flight was going to go, but thankfully by the time I took off my stomach seemed to have recovered. The initial part of the flight went pretty quickly and I was soon high above Wallberg and ready to set off to the east and with just a few more climb I was high above the Großer Traithon and ready for the very long valley crossing over the Inntal. The view of the main alpine ridge on this first section was really wonderful, as the air was much clearer than it often is, and there were not too many clouds to block to the view. I arrived fairly early at the Zahmer Kaiser, so it took me a while to climb back up on the shady side, however eventually I was above the Zahmer Kaiser and ready to head to Kössen. At Kössen my progress dramatically slowed as the wind was very unpleasant, it was. Read the full article…