Blog Posts in Category: Alpinism

Petite Verte

Alastair BegleyAlpinism, France Short Link

After a long day yesterday and two sleepless nights the thought of an early start in order to catch the first lift of the day wasn’t all that appealing. However, due to only having a brief weather window in the morning before a few stormy days we decided to get up early and head up the Petite Verte. We chose this route due to it being a short day (under 300m ascent!) which would enable us to get high and continue acclimatising before the weather came in. When we arrived at the lift station it became clear that a large number of other people had (unsurprisingly) had the same idea. The weather in the morning was fantastic and upon leaving the lift station we were greeted by fantastic views of the Aiguille d’Argentiere on one side and views towards Mont Blanc on the other side. Thankfully we managed to leave the lift station quickly and were in the initial group of teams heading for the ridge, due to the air temperature being cool the snow was frozen and we were able to make quick progress up to the start of. Read the full article…

Le Buet Traverse

Alastair BegleyAlpinism, France Short Link

After driving through the night to get to Chamonix, we arrived early in the morning to be greeted by heavy rain. Due to the forecast saying that the weather would improve as the evening approached, we headed off on our pre planned acclimatisation route. Our plan was to head up the valley from Le Buet to a few hundred meters above the Refuge de la Pierre a Berard where we were going to wild camp before heading up to Le Buet the following day before descending via Le Cheval Blanc and the Col de la Terrasse. The weather had started to look bright so we headed up the valley, but unfortunately the rain hadn’t finished and we got hit by another heavy shower on the way up. Eventually we reached an excellent bivi spot with flat ground, plenty of access to water and a stunning view. It started raining very heavily just before we headed to bed, and I learnt the hard way that getting into a bivi bag in the rain without getting everything wet is a tad awkward, but I was very pleased to end up in a. Read the full article…

A fantastic 2013 in 100 Photos

Alastair BegleyAlpinism, Equestrian, Landscape, Mountaineering, Rock Climbing, Scrambling, Walking, Winter Climbing Short Link

Somehow we are already at the end of another year, and what a fantastic year it has been! I have somehow summed up my year in 100 photos again. The photos make it look like I didn’t do much rock climbing this year, but that is just that I don’t tend to take my camera to the local crags where I spent a silly amount of evenings in May and June. In total this year I managed 125 trad climbs, 30 winter climbs, 7 walks, 6 alpine routes, 3 scrambles, 2 sport climbs, 2 caving trips and 2 via ferratas. I have had such a good year that summarising the high points was pretty challenging: Winter Traverse of the Cuillin Ridge An absolutely fantastic winter season which was ended perfectly by (1) and included many classics including Minus Two, Orion Face, Point Five & Tower Ridge A great two weeks in the Swiss Alps where I climbed 8 peaks Climbing American Beauty and Indy 500 on a fantastic day on Lundy Despite having a generally fantastic year, there were certainly some less good moments: Needing to call mountain rescue in the. Read the full article…

Sunrise and Sunset in the Mountains

Alastair BegleyAlpinism, Mountaineering, Scrambling, Walking, Winter Climbing Short Link

After the fantastic summer we had where I was incredibly busy, I am making the most of this Autumnal weather and resting in preparation for the upcoming winter season. However I am getting “mountain withdrawal” so have been going through my past photos, due to this there will be a few themed blog posts appearing over the next month. If you spend enough time in the mountains you will be fortunate enough to experience some fantastic sunrise and sunsets, weather they are planned due to long days or unplanned due to epics. This post is focussing on times where I have experienced either sunrise or sunset in the mountains, or on some occasions both! Snowdon Horseshoe During March 2012 we set out late in the morning to climb Snowdon via the classic Crib Goch ridge, as the day progressed the weather continually improved and we were having a fantastic time. Despite it being late by the time we were finally on a quiet summit we decided to carry on and complete the full Snowdon horseshoe due to the fantastic conditions. The sun set as we were descending off the final. Read the full article…