Blog Posts in Category: Walking

Roter Stein

Alastair BegleyAustria, Walking Short Link

We had planned to climb Daniel, but given the lack of wind forecast and the high temperatures, decided that a large day fully spent on a south facing slope may have been a bit unpleasant, so we diverted to climb another mountain which has been on my todo list for a while, the Roter Stein which started from Berwang. The route was a there and back route, which took us up a beautiful valley before climbing steeply up to a spur of the Roter Stein which then took us to the summit. The walk up the valley in the morning was hot, with absolutely no wind, baking sunshine and ascent. There was also surprisingly still some snow, but it was almost impossible to detect as snow as it was covered with tree debris, so it only looked like snow when you really looked at it hard and from the side. As we climbed out of the valley three things happened, firstly as we left the lush green valley the humidity dropped, secondly we were greeted by a welcome breeze and thirdly the views started to open up. The views kept. Read the full article…

Gamskogel

Alastair BegleyAustria, Walking Short Link

With a mixed weather forecast and following a lot of rain in the mountains we decided to head to the Gamskogel with the IMG, as it was relatively low, easy to access by train and shouldn’t have been too bad following the recent heavy rain. Due to the introduction of the 49 euro ticket in Germany, most of us took the train the Kufstein to start the walk, which was a nice social way to start the walk. The ascent to the Gamskogel was mostly in the forrest, but it took us up some nice scenery next to the Kienbach with glimpses out of the forest across and out of the Inntal, where there were some fairly ominous looking clouds. Thankfully we made it to the summit before it started to rain, where we had a lovely view in every direction, but unfortunately due to the forecast it certainly wasn’t a day to be hanging around. We made a quick descent down to the Weinbergerhaus for a lovely lunch, before making the descent back down to Kufstein for some ice cream and the train back to Munich.

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…

Thaneller Hike&Fly

Alastair BegleyAustria, Paragliding, Walking Short Link

Following a day with snow down to the valleys and a beautiful weather forecast, we headed off early to Berwang in Austria to climb Thaneller. We had decided to climb Thaneller as it is a fairly standalone mountain which has wonderful views over the Lechtaler Alpen, towards the Zugspitze, over the Plansee and towards the Tannheimer Geberge. It was also suitable for a hike and fly with the predicted wind direction. The ascent up to the peak was beautiful, with snow covered mountains, green fields in the valleys and incredibly clear air which gave us wonderful views. As we climbed higher the views just kept improving and we had a wonderful inversion as we looked towards the Karwendel. As we approached the summit we were greeted by the view north over Plansee and into Bavaria, which was very special. The wind was moderate and in the correct direction to take off, so I quickly setup before it further increased and after more failed inflations than I would care to admit, took off. Upon watching the videos the others took, it I was clearly using my hands to balance as I. Read the full article…

Blauberg Überschreitung

Alastair BegleyBavaria, Walking Short Link

With another day of beautiful sunshine and unexpectedly warm temperatures we decided to head off and do one of the long ridge walks in Bavaria which has been on my todo list for a while, the Blauberg Blauberg Überschreitung. As Becky was heading off early the next morning, we wanted to ensure that we weren’t back too late, so we got up early and arrived at the car park at 8am. We were certainly not the first people there, but the car park was still pretty deserted. The walk in was pretty cool in the shade, and for a large amount of the very flat walk in we could see the towering ascent at the end of the valley, which was as steep as it looked! We were thankful that it hadn’t rained, as the approach was along a valley floor and involved multiple crossings of the river, certainly not one to do in trainers after lots of rain! We were soon at the start of the ascent, which was fairly brutal, but at least most of the ascent was then done in one go! Eventually we emerged on the. Read the full article…

Hochiss, Achensee

Alastair BegleyAustria, Walking Short Link

We had some friends from the UK visiting us, and wanted to make the most of the limited amount of time they had in the mountains with us. We had previously done this walk last year, when I flew off the top, and it was certainly memorable due to the relatively small amount of ascent thanks to the Rofanbahn, fantastic views, and even a little bit of scrambling. While last time there was plenty of hill fog in the morning, which made the ascent fairly grim and cold, this time we were basking in the warm sunshine, which made the walk enjoyable from the start. As we climbed up towards the Rotspitz and the view into the Karwendel and over Achense opened up it was just fantastic. From this point the entire ascent of the ridge was enjoyable, and we managed to find a location in the sun and out of the wind for lunch. As the day went on the Föhn winds started to develop, and you could clearly see Föhn clouds over the main alpine ridge. This meant that the summit was pretty chilly, combined with the high. Read the full article…

Col Bel Hike&Fly (Val di Fassa, Dolomites)

Alastair BegleyDolomites, Paragliding, Walking Short Link

After a brilliant day flying the previous day, I was unsure of what do do on my second and final day in the Dolomites as the airmass was not predicted to be very good. I was even debating if I should just head back and fly in Austria on the way home so that I got back to Munich at a more reasonable hour. As I left the hotel I had decided that I was going to head to fly at Rofan above Achensee, until I had a sudden brainwave. I realised that I was focussing too much on thermal flying, and an alternative, and equally good way to spend the day was to do a hike and fly. Which would enable me to soak up more of the wonderful scenery on offer in the Dolomites. I found this really useful page on FassaFly and decided to head up Col Bel, as it worked well with the wind direction, was a decent walk and was meant to have stunning views. I actually elected to climb the mountain via a slightly different route, as it meant that I ascended up a. Read the full article…

Latschenkopf 

Alastair BegleyBavaria, Walking Short Link

We had planned to go paragliding, but when we woke up the forecast wind in front of the impending storm had increased significantly, so we decided that we would skip flying and head out for a short morning walk before the storm arrived. We decided to do a short loop from Brauneck up to the Latschenkopf, as neither of us fancied a large descent after the descent from the Watzmann two days earlier. It was a very hot morning, at 8am on the drive from Munich it was already 28 degrees! The walk was very pleasant with lovely views, little ascent and more importantly little descent! The wind on the ridge made us glad that we had chosen to abort paragliding and just enjoy a short walk close to Munich. It was a fairly short walk, and by 11am we were descending to the all below the Idealhang ski slope. So there was one obvious choice to have, a classic Weißwurst Frühstück. After enjoying brunch, we headed back to the lift and then went for a swim in our local lake back in Munich.