Blog Posts in Category: Bavaria

Tegelbergsteig and Neuschwanstein Castle

Alastair BegleyBavaria, Via Ferrata Short Link

Due to a change in forecast, we had a last minute change of plan, and instead of heading to the Pongau/Pinzgau area, we ended up heading to the edge of the Allgäu, where Katherine and I climbed the Tegelbergsteig while Becky walked up due to her wrist, before we all descended back down via the Marienbrücke for the views over Neuschwanstein Castle. The ascent from the Tegelbergbahn is very steep up a concrete road straight out of the blocks, so you do not get a chance to properly acclimatise to the heat/humidity nor to warm up your legs. The route is always enjoyable, but unsurprisingly for a sunny Saturday there was lots of queuing on the route, and multiple groups with small children who were not having a particularly good time on the crux sections. As ever the route isn‘t that photogenic due to climbing a NW facing cliff, and therefore being in shadow for the majority of the day. Due to our queuing Becky had been waiting at the top for a while, so when we got off the Klettersteig, I had to try and keep up with Katherine. Read the full article…

140km XC from Wallberg to Radstadt

Alastair BegleyAustria, Bavaria, Paragliding Short Link

With an excellent lapse rate, low winds at valley level but with strong winds up high, combined with a high cloudbase, I was cautiously optimistic that I was going to complete my first >100km flight. The route I planned at the following sections: I had flown a number of the sections successfully before, and had attempted a number of others, which put me in a great position to use previous knowledge. I had previously successfully flown 1-3 and 5, and had attempted 3 and 6 previously which had given me useful knowledge to improve on this time. Despite the great forecast, I wasn’t sure if I would be able to complete the route as I thought that in the afternoon the thermals may become too turbulent due to the midsummer sun, 0.9 deg/100m lapse rate and strong wind up high. Thankfully this didn‘t turn out to be the case, and I successfully complete the flight landing at Radstadt as planned. The flight itself was wonderful, I spent most of the time over 1000m above the summits admiring the wonderful views, enjoying the strong climb and being blown along the route. Read the full article…

Wallberg to Bayrischzell Paragliding

Alastair BegleyBavaria, Paragliding Short Link

I wasn‘t 100% sure if the day would even be flyable due to strong winds forecast at all altitudes, but thought that I would head to Wallberg and find out as it wouldn‘t cost anything thanks to the Deutschland ticket. Conditions at launch were good, and very quickly I managed to climb up to 2200m, enough to head off on a short xc, but decided that I wanted a bit more height first. Frustratingly it then took me ages to get back up to 2200m due to the amount of cloud, and it was certainly pretty windy. Once I was finally back up at 2200m, I headed off towards Bayrischzell. As I headed to Brecherspitze it was clear that it was very windy and turbulent but the climbs kept coming and kept me well above the mountains, I ensured that I would always be able to glide down to the valley despite the wind, as I didn‘t want to get pinned in a venturi. As I was flying along to Bayrischzell I was feeling a little unsure about continuing, and watching a paraglider below me take a massive collapse, combined. Read the full article…

2022 in 100 Photos

Alastair BegleyAlpinism, Arco, Austria, Bavaria, Dolomites, General, Landscape, Paragliding, Road Cycling, Rock Climbing, Scrambling, Ski Touring, Skiing, Uncategorized, Via Ferrata, Walking, Winter Climbing, Winter Walking Short Link

Thankfully 2022 was a more normal year than the previous two years, and our first full year with our new lifestyle living an hour from the Alps. A high point of the year was the number of visitors we were able to host, for skiing, walking, paragliding and climbing. We certainly made the most of living near the alps, with most weekends spend in the mountains one way or another. Winter Our winter was fairly dominated with piste skiing, where Becky progressed from tentatively skiing easy blue runs to confidently skiing red runs with the odd short black run as well! This was great to see and I am looking forward to her continued progression this year. Despite the focus on piste skiing we also squeezed some paragliding in and I managed to get 4 days of ski touring as well. General Through the winter we managed to squeeze in some paragliding, and on one of our final days of skiing of the year, I am managed to combine a morning skiing with my first proper cross country flight on my paraglider which was a very memorable experience, as I. Read the full article…