Blog Posts in Category: Via Ferrata

Mala Mojstrovka Klettersteig (Hanzover pot)

Alastair BegleySlovenia, Via Ferrata Short Link

On our first day in Slovenia we decided to climb Mala Mojstrovka via the klettersteig up the north face (Hanzover pot). This was a relatively short day given the height of the summit, as the route starts from the Vršič pass at 1611m, if you are lucky enough to be able to park on the top. After a brief ascent from the car park, we soon reached a col which gave us a wonderful view of the north face, and our route. The route was a wonderful way of climbing the mountain, as it wound its way up thorough unlikely looking terrain, with outstanding views and really enjoyable scrambling on rock. It is not a route to do if you are looking for really well protected klettersteigs or technically difficult routes, but if you want a great day out in the mountains then I would highly recommend it. All too soon we arrived at the top of the klettersteig and emerged from the shady north face into the sun. It was a shame to have finished the klettersteig, however it was a relief to emerge into the warm sunlight. From. Read the full article…

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…

2022 in 100 Photos

Alastair Begley100 Photos, Alpinism, Arco, Austria, Bavaria, Dolomites, General, Landscape, Paragliding, Road Cycling, Rock Climbing, Scrambling, Ski Touring, Skiing, 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…

Watzmann Überschreitung

Alastair BegleyBavaria, Via Ferrata Short Link

I have wanted to traverse the Watzmann since first visiting the Berchesgaten a few years ago on a landscape photography trip, where I took the photo below. On our second summer holiday this year we had decided to stay around Munich and with a perfect weather forecast, and spaces in the Watzmannhaus we decided to head over to Berchtesgaden to do the classic route crossing the Watzmann. The route itself was absolutely wonderful, and it was also nice to stay at the hut given it was in such a fine position looking out over Berchtesgaden and the surrounding peaks. The route certainly had all the aspects required to make it a wonderful experience, great views, plenty of exposure and fun scrambling and it was great to look down to the impressive Königssee. The descent from the ridge to the Wimbachgrieshütte was pretty unpleasant and very long, but was worth it given how good the ridge itself was! We debated if we should do the route in one day or two, in the end we decided to stay in the hut and do the route in two days, as the guidebook. Read the full article…

Große Ochsenwand Klettersteig

Alastair BegleyAustria, Via Ferrata Short Link

We chose to climb the Große Ochsenwand (or Schlicker) Klettersteig today, as it was a beautiful but very hot day and we thought that getting up high would help reduce the impact of the heat, how wrong we were. It was also a route without much time for being slow, as the guidebook time was 7 hours, and there was only 7.5 hours from first lift to last lift! The day started with a frustrating loss of 200m of height as we descended towards our objective. The descent was very straight forwards, however finding the ascent was not. The guidebook said there was a well travelled path, but we certainly could not find one initially across the scree field, we eventually found some faded red paint spots and then found a more substantial path. We were very hot by the time we got to the base of the route, and for the vast majority of the route, but this did not take away from the enjoyment of a wonderful route up the huge face, with brilliant views down the valley and of the large rock faces around us. The route. Read the full article…

Wankspitze Klettersteig

Alastair BegleyAustria, Via Ferrata Short Link

At the start of the season trying to find klettersteigs which are interesting, involve a summit and are open is a bit challenging. After our first few thoughts being dismissed as we discovered that they were not yet open, we settled on the Wankspitze Klettersteig. It was a very easy klettersteig, but it climbed a ridge to the summit of the Wankspitze and had wonderful views towards the higher mountains in Austria. The walk up to the Lehnberghaus was fairly quick in the forrest, however it was already fairly warm in the morning so we stopped for a refreshing drink before continuing with the approach to the Klettersteig. As we climbed higher we soon left the forrest and were treated to spectacular views of big limestone faces and gullies. After doing most of the ascent towards the summit we arrived at the col between the Wankspitze the Westliche Griesspitze, which is where the klettersteig started. After eating most of our lunch we set off on the klettersteig. It started with a few interesting sections, but unfortunately the rest of the klettersteig was very straightforward, however this was more than made. Read the full article…

Mayrhofen Klettersteig

Alastair BegleyAustria, Via Ferrata Short Link

After the morning flight, we headed up the valley to Mayrhofen to have some fun on the Klettersteigs. We started up the Pfeilspitzwand Klettersteig, in much better weather than last time, and we made excellent time as it was only two of us. The Klettersteig was as fun as I remember it, however certainly over sooner than we wanted. We decided to head off on the Astegg Klettersteig to the top, which was better than I remember it. Maybe something to do with the temperature being about 15 degrees cooler than the previous time! After a quick run back down we were soon back at the car, having had a brilliant few hours on the klettersteigs.

Tegelbergsteig Klettersteig

Alastair BegleyBavaria, Via Ferrata Short Link

With a sunny Saturday forecast we headed down to Fügen to climb the classic klettersteig up the Tegelberg. As we arrived in Fügen it was very cloudy, but as we made our way up the steep ascent to the start of the klettersteig we emerged through to find a missive inversion. The climb itself faced north, which meant we had a beautiful view but fairly challenging conditions photographically. The route started easily before getting to a branch point with a ladder which was followed by the crux. This resulted in many people down climbing the ladder and a big queue. Thankfully once this cleared we didn’t need to queue much as the slower groups let us past at convenient points. The rest of the climb was good fun, despite the damp and greasy rock. Once we were at the top, we made the short climb up to the lift station where we enjoyed lunch at the restaurant before taking the lazy way down in the lift.