Blog Posts in Category: Mountaineering

Two weeks in the Valais Alps

Alastair BegleyAlpinism, Switzerland Short Link

I have just returned from my annual Alps trip, this year I headed to Saas Grund in the Swiss Alps with the Avon Mountaineering Club. It was an amazing but very tiring two weeks which involved eight peaks, 5 of which were above 4000m and I climbed my first two AD routes. In addition to the climbing we had plenty of enjoyment in the valley with a few meals out and a night out in Saas Fee. The peaks I climbed during the trip are: Stellihorn – North West Flank To get to the alps we decided to leave on Friday evening and drive through the night, this drive went very smoothly and we arrived at 11am after having only had a few hours sleep during the drive. Instead of relaxing at the campsite we decided that it would be a good idea to walk up to a bivi site to sleep up high while we were tired before climbing the Stellihorn the next day to continue acclimatising.During the walk up to the bivi site it looked like some weather might be coming in from Italy but we were hoping. Read the full article…

A Sunny Late May Bank Holiday in the Lake District

Alastair BegleyLake District, Scrambling, Walking Short Link

I spent last weekend walking and scrambling in the Lake District with some friends from uni. It was a brilliant weekend with fantastic weather, over Saturday and Sunday we did the classic route of Helvellyn via Striding and Swirral edge, except with a twist. On Saturday we ascended Helvellyn via Striding Edge and then continued north along the ridge over White Side, Raise, Stybarrow Dodd, Great Dodd and Clough Head. Once we reached the end we descended down to Dockray and a well earned pint in the sun. After an evening lounging in the sun and enjoying a BBQ we got up to another day of sunshine and headed up to the classic grade 3 scramble, Pinnacle Ridge up St. Sunday Crag. It was great fun and we even found the start without too much difficulty, I was surprised while climbing the ridge just how crampon scratched the rock was on a classic summer scramble. Once we were at the top I continued with Rich up to Fairfield, down to Grisedale Tarn and then up to Helvellyn including all the subsidiary peaks before descending down Swirral Edge before finishing on Catstycam.. Read the full article…

April Climbing

Alastair BegleyRock Climbing Short Link

It has been a pretty manic month with lots and lots of climbing making the most of the good weather we have been having. Since the start of April I have managed 51 rock climbs all over the country including, Pembroke, The Peak, The Lakes, Wye Valley and Avon Gorge. It has been a brilliant start to the climbing season and I am looking forward to the rest of the summer.

An Unbeatable winter season?

Alastair BegleyWinter Climbing Short Link

So it seems the winter season which just kept giving is finally coming to an end. Over the past 4 months I have managed 21 days out in winter conditions all over the country, including the Brecon Beacons, Snowdonia, Glen Coe, Lochaber and the Isle of Skye. During these days I managed a winter walk, 2 days skiing and 33 winter climbs including descents of which 26 were unique, and most were in fantastic conditions. This winter has been truly spectacular as I have had so many days out on brilliant ice and in brilliant weather and I have progressed from climbing grade III to being happy at V and even attempting a VI, over the course of the winter I have climbed many of the classic lines lines on Ben Nevis, seen some spectacular views and made new friendships. I finished my season in just about the best way I can imagine by heading up to complete the Cuillin Ridge Traverse over the Easter Bank Holiday weekend in fantastic alpine conditions. My winter started in December before the major thaw which hit the country in January and wiped out winter for a month.. Read the full article…

First Pembroke Trip of the Year

Alastair BegleyRock Climbing Short Link

With a bit of a contrast to last weekend in Skye on the Cuillin Ridge, I spent Saturday rock climbing on Pembroke’s fantastic sea cliffs with Neil. It was a glorious day with a warm sun and a chilly breeze however the crags were mostly sheltered from this. With less than ideal tides and bird bans we headed to Stennis Head in the morning to do some non tidal and non bird banned routes. I started up Bludgeon which was a lovely HVS 5a corner which was quickly climbed to the top without much difficulty which I was very pleased with as I hadn’t lead a trad route since January and in February I only rock climbed twice. After this we abseiled back down and headed for the ‘Merchant of Stennis’ however in Neil’s haste he ended up leading up the E5 crackline to the left of the route called Fetish. He made swift work up to and past the crux but ran out of energy for the final section. After a few more attempts, including having to repeat the crux he escaped right into the E3 for a few moves before heading to the top. I. Read the full article…

Winter Traverse of the Cuillin Ridge

Alastair BegleyScotland, Winter Climbing Short Link

Having had a brilliant winter season I was quite content with staying down south for an extended period and getting back on rock, in fact I was supposed to be rock climbing in Cornwall last weekend. However, the weather had other ideas and with rain, wind and cold weather forecast down south I decided to make the most of the extended winter season in Scotland for another weekend. After exchanging emails with Mike Lates of Skye Guides I decided to head up to attempt a winter traverse of the Cuillin Ridge on the Isle of Skye due to the ridge being in full on winter conditions and having a weather window where the forecast was cold weather, no wind and lots of sun. A winter traverse of the Cuillin Ridge is a route which is not often in good conditions due to being close to the sea and due to its nature is regarded as one of the finest mountaineering expeditions in the UK. We planned on taking three days on the ridge moving from north to south as is common in winter due to most of the difficulties being abseiled and having. Read the full article…

Attempting Minus One Gully then Climbing Vanishing Gully

Alastair BegleyScotland, Winter Climbing Short Link

Another week finished at work, in fact my first full week since January due to all my Scotland trips in February and instead of enjoying a nice relaxing weekend it was back in the car for another eight hour drive up to Fort William for a weekends winter climbing. This trip was with James and was a fairly last minute trip due to the weather down south being to wet and cold to go rock climbing.We rolled into the North Face car park at 1:30am, set the alarm for 4:30 and headed to bed. Very tired after three hours sleep we woke up, had some breakfast and coffee before starting the now very familiar walk up to the CIC hut. Despite being pretty tired it was the most enjoyable walk in I have done so far due to the weather being so Alpine with a clear sky, the Ben looking like an iced christmas cake and a fantastic view of the mountains behind us. We were soon at the CIC hut after 1h15mins and started the hard walk in up the fresh powder towards the minus face. Despite being at. Read the full article…

Hadrian’s Wall Direct

Alastair BegleyScotland, Winter Climbing Short Link

After yet another brilliant day on the Ben I still wasn’t going to give myself a rest day so on Sunday me, David and Rich for up for an alpine start and headed up to the North Face of Ben Nevis yet again with the plan to climb Hadrian’s Wall Direct, another classic *** V,5 ice climb. I was coming down with a cold and found the walk in really touch, it has been a long time since I have struggled so much in the hills and pretty much collapsed on my bag when we stopped to gear up. Looking up towards Hadrian’s Wall and Point Five I remembered how tiring the initial snow slope was last time and with my current state of body was really not looking forward to it, thankfully half a packet of Jelly Babies helped significantly and we arrived at the bottom of the route without anyone in front of us. Looking up from the bottom the ice looked absolutely fantastic, a long, very sustained but not too steep section of ice. There was a ledge around 7m up what looked like easy ground so. Read the full article…