Blog Posts in Category: Slovenia

Mangart – Slovenska pot – Klettersteig&Fly

Alastair BegleyParagliding, Slovenia, Via Ferrata Short Link

When we were in Slovenia a few years ago, one of the routes which caught my eye but we didn’t get around to was the Klettersteig up Mangart. This was not because it was a particularly special or difficult route, but because it was fairly high, with little ascent and apparently you could see the sea from the summit, an unusual view in most of the alps. This meant that it was an obvious choice for this trip and it became even better when we found out that you could pre-book a minibus from Bovec for 3 euros per person each direction, which meant neither us nor our friends had to move our vans. Unfortunately as we climbed up the road in the van, it became clear that there was a lot more cloud than was in the forecast, but we remained hopeful that the weather would clear and give us some nice views. I had also decided to take my paraglider with me as I knew that in good conditions it was possible to launch from the summit, and in any case it should be possible to launch from. Read the full article…

Jerebica/Cima del Lago Hike&Fly

Alastair BegleyItaly, Paragliding, Slovenia, Walking Short Link

On our way to Slovenia we wanted to do a walk before we parked in the campsite in Bovec for 4 days. On the way down I was researching options and stumbled across Cima del Lago (Italian) or Jerebica (Slovenian). The walk looked absolutely perfect with not too much ascent, a nice ridge when up high and stunning views in every direction, so it was the obvious choice especially as it was only a 5 min detour from our route. While I was researching the route, it looked like it may be possible to fly down from the summit, however I couldn’t find any information about it. The joy of my hike&fly gear is that it is so light that I don’t mind carrying it even if there is a very uncertain chance of flying. As the forecast was for a very hot day, we got up early and set off to make the most of the cooler morning air, especially as the first part of the ascent was fairly constant and in the woods. Eventually we emerged from the woods at the col at the start of the ridge. Read the full article…

2023 in 100 Photos

Alastair Begley100 Photos, Austria, Bavaria, Dolomites, General, Germany, Italy, Landscape, Mountaineering, Paragliding, Rock Climbing, Scrambling, Ski Touring, Skiing, Slovenia, Via Ferrata, Walking, Winter Walking Short Link

All to quickly it was once again the end of another year and time to reflect on the year. This year we really started to settle into our routine of living an hour from the Alps, with travel being much easier and having settled into Munich life, both professionally and socially. Unfortunately at the start of the year Becky had an accident and badly broke her wrist which was also misdiagnosed which delayed her recovery. This significantly impacted our year as we were unable to climb, klettersteig or ride our bikes for most of the year. The highlights of the year for me have to be Becky’s continued progression at skiing with her initial foray into ski touring, my ski mountaineering adventure on the Ruderhofspitze, my continued paragliding progression with my first flight over 100km, our wonderful holiday together to Slovenia and a beautiful walk near munich with a combination of snow&autumn colours. Winter Winter continued with lots of weekends away skiing with family, friends from the UK and friends from Munich, it seemed like we had a constant stream of visitors which as wonderful. Becky’s progression continued and she. 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…