Blog Posts in Category: Winter Walking

Dürrnbergjoch

Alastair BegleyBavaria, Winter Walking Short Link

Today was a day where the weather forecast couldn’t decide between not great and brilliant, and it seemed the actual weather was a bit indesisive as well, but it certainly wasn’t the day which the forecast predicted at 6:30 am that morning. We had decided to head up to the Sylvensteinspeicher and walk up the ride towards the Demeljoch, with no particular objective in mind, just seeing how far we could get with the snowy conditions. We were expecting a clear day, the but actual weather had other ideas in mind as it was snowing as we left the car park. As we drove across the dam I was very surprised to find the dam frozen, a bit of a different scene to when I was last here in the Autumn! After a typically Bavarian ascent in the forrest, with a few fleeting views out over the frozen reservoir, we soon arrived at the start of the ridge, which meant we had wonderful views to one side. We could see plenty of bad weather, but didn’t appear to be catching much ourselves which was great. We made good time up. Read the full article…

Schönberg & Seekarkreuz

Alastair BegleyBavaria, Winter Walking Short Link

Having returned to Munich it has been strangely warm, however winter seems to have suddenly returned. After an evening of snow, Adam and I headed out to do a circuit above Lenggries including the Schönberg and the Seekarkreuz. The morning was beautiful, with a cloudless sky, snow down to the valley and cold air. We enjoyed a gentle walk up a snowy forrest, which was much more interesting with the fresh snow. We soon got to a stunning opening, which also marked the start of the proper ascent. This was fairly straightforwards, other than the small part where we went off the path due to following tracks in front of us… We soon were at the summit, and enjoying fleeting views of the mountains, as unfortunately the cloud had come in. After some well earnt brunch we descended as the weather improved and had brilliant views towards the Hochplatte and Roßstein. There was one small section of scrambling which we were the first party along, which was fairly interesting, especially due to my route finding error. Once we approached the end of the scrambling, the views were absolutely fantastic. We. Read the full article…

Geal-charn Mor

Alastair BegleyScotland, Winter Walking Short Link

With the weather looking significantly better in the east we chose to do another Corbett to make the most of any of the better weather. The start of the walk took us up the Burma road, which was fairly snowy from a low level. Despite the snow we were able to make good progress and enjoy the brilliant views back towards the Cairngorms. As the snow became deeper we all put on our snow shoes, which made the path easier, but I don’t think they made a significant difference. As we left the path to head up to the summit the poor weather came in, so the compass came back out. The show shoes also started to provide a significant benefit and we were certainly grateful for them. The descent was lovely and it was really great to see the Cairngorms from afar and from up high. It was really impressive seeing the vast expanse and how easy it was to identify a number of the major features of the range.

The Fara

Alastair BegleyScotland, Winter Walking Short Link

The weather forecast for the first day of our trip wasn’t brilliant, so we elected for a short day on a local Corbett called The Fara. The walk in along Loch Ericht in the morning was beautiful in the sunshine, the estate gatehouse was very impressive. After a relatively short distance we were at the start of the steep ascent up a clearing between different plantations. The start of the ascent was brutal as it involved a very steep ascent with very deep snow. As we got to the top of the plantations the gradient eased off, and the poor weather started to come in. Becky was able to make good use of her new snow shoes which made the going much easier for her. As we ascended the weather deteriorated and we were soon in the white room and unable to tell what was up from down. As we were approaching the summit we had to make a detour to avoid a slope which was fairly loaded with wind slab. After some quick lunch at the summit we made a hasty descent back down. It was fairly easy going. Read the full article…