Blog Posts in Category: Paragliding

A 57km triangle over the Rosengarten and Marmolada

Alastair BegleyItaly, Paragliding Short Link

It has been a few years since I last flew in the Dolomites, so when the conditions lined up with my availability, I was very excited to be heading back for another flight in the stunning conditions. The plan for the day was simple: Launch conditions were challenging with a slight back wind in between the thermal cycles, with a number of dust devils to add to the chaos. Unfortunately my first launch attempt was not successful and it took me ages to get myself sorted again before I finally launched. The conditions were pretty good and once in the air the flying was a brilliant as ever, with wonderful views. I was soon up at base above the Langkofel before the long first glide, however knowing that around the corner there was reliable cliffs and thermals made this very fast and I was soon climbing out in perfect harmony with another pilot. Over the Rosengarten I decided to take the slightly longer high line, as it looked like it would work better in these conditions. I do not know if it did, but I made good progress and was. Read the full article…

Gitschberg and Seefeld See

Alastair BegleyItaly, Paragliding, Walking Short Link

Having aborted on this walk a few days ago due to the van breaking down, with an excellent forecast this was the obvious choice for the day while we were staying in Mühlbach, with the added advantage that the lifts were free. We started the walk with a traverse around the top of the Altfasstal to the Seefeld See. This was really beautiful with stunning views down the gorgeous valley, I had been carrying my glider with me for a flight down at the end of the day, but I had been quietly wondering if I would also be able to fly down from Seefeld See. Any doubts I had about this were soon quashed as we saw a glider doing exactly that while we were still heading to the lake. As we emerged above the lake we had a lovely view down on the lake, before we descended to walk around it. Around the lake we were in the sun and outside of the breeze so it was very warm and inviting for a quick swim, needless to say that the water was pretty cold! After drying off and. Read the full article…

Plose Hike&Fly (Brixen)

Alastair BegleyItaly, Paragliding, Walking Short Link

On our second unplanned day in Brixen due to clutch issues we decided to climb the obvious peak which towers above the town, Plose (Telegraph), as it looked beautiful with its red flanks in the evening sun the day before. We dropped the van off at a garage in Brixen, hoping that it was just the master cylinder which needed replacing as this was an easy job, unlike the slave cylinder. An easy bus ride took us up to the seilbahn before we walked along a traversing line to the north towards the Ochsenalm. As we traversed around the mountain the views kept getting better and better as we emerged out of the forest and the path turned to face more into the Pustertal. From the Ochsenalm the main ascent really started and this meant that the views just kept getting better and better. The final section of the route was up a lovely ridge to the summit of Telegraph, aptly named due to the infrastructure on the summit! Unfortunately the entire day was fairly cloudy which impacted the views, however we enjoyed the fleeting views in between the clouds. Read the full article…

Birnhorn Überschreitung Hike&Fly

Alastair BegleyAustria, Paragliding, Walking Short Link

Having booked the Passauer Hütte months ago we were excited that it looked like we had a perfect weather weekend as we approached the trip, and I was even happier that it looked like it should work for a hike&fly to save me about 1800hm of descent. After some discussions we settled on the northern approach to the hut as despite having 300hm more of ascent, it was a lot more gradual and on a better path, which got the vote for the descent. The start of the approach was up through the woods, however as we climbed higher we started other get fleeting views to the north into the Steinernes Meer. Eventually we emerged out of the woods and could enjoy the view fully, and it really was spectacular. As we arrived at the col by the hut we were suddenly greeted with the view south towards the main alpine ridge, something which was great to suddenly emerge and see in one go. We enjoyed our afternoon sitting on the veranda at the hut while eating some food, having a few drinks and soaking in the wonderful view. After. Read the full article…

Mittenwald Höhenweg Klettersteig&Fly

Alastair BegleyBavaria, Paragliding Short Link

Having last completed the Mittenwald Höhenweg shortly after having moved to Munich 5 years ago, we decided to head back to do it again as we had enjoyed it so much last time, however this time I had a plan to save on the descent by flying off from the German/Austrian border back down to Mittenwald. We were expecting the route to be busy, given that it was still the school holidays and it was the only nice day of the weekend, but we were not quite prepared for how busy the route would actually be. We arrived at the lift station and were ready for 9am, however we had to queue for sometime as the lift was so busy. As we left the lift station we eagerly climbed the first section so that we would emerge from the shade into the sun, especially me as I was still in a t-shirt. Thankfully it did not take us long to emerge into the sunshine, however at this point we saw how many people were gearing up for the klettersteig. We joined the crowds and patiently waited in the queue, as. Read the full article…

Mangart – Slovenska pot – Klettersteig&Fly

Alastair BegleyParagliding, Slovenia, Via Ferrata Short Link

When we were in Slovenia a few years ago, one of the routes which caught my eye but we didn’t get around to was the Klettersteig up Mangart. This was not because it was a particularly special or difficult route, but because it was fairly high, with little ascent and apparently you could see the sea from the summit, an unusual view in most of the alps. This meant that it was an obvious choice for this trip and it became even better when we found out that you could pre-book a minibus from Bovec for 3 euros per person each direction, which meant neither us nor our friends had to move our vans. Unfortunately as we climbed up the road in the van, it became clear that there was a lot more cloud than was in the forecast, but we remained hopeful that the weather would clear and give us some nice views. I had also decided to take my paraglider with me as I knew that in good conditions it was possible to launch from the summit, and in any case it should be possible to launch from. Read the full article…

Tolmin Paragliding

Alastair BegleyParagliding, Slovenia Short Link

I had been wanting to fly in the Slovenian Alps for some time, as I had heard great things about the flying and I knew that the scenery was really very special. While we were there for a long weekend in August there were decent conditions forecast on one of the days, so I made a plan to get myself from Bovec to Tolmin in the morning with public transport. As expected I was on launch way too early, but I would much rather that that too late. This led to a very chilled out morning relaxing in the sun while waiting for conditions to turn on, as the launch became busier and busier. This meant that I decided that as soon as it looked “on”, I would launch before it became too hectic in the air. Eventually someone took off and managed to, very slowly, climb out, so I didn’t need anymore encouragement and launched into the blue. After slowly scratching my way up it was time to move on, and I am very pleased with my decision as it was constantly getting busier below me, and scratching in. Read the full article…

Jerebica/Cima del Lago Hike&Fly

Alastair BegleyItaly, Paragliding, Slovenia, Walking Short Link

On our way to Slovenia we wanted to do a walk before we parked in the campsite in Bovec for 4 days. On the way down I was researching options and stumbled across Cima del Lago (Italian) or Jerebica (Slovenian). The walk looked absolutely perfect with not too much ascent, a nice ridge when up high and stunning views in every direction, so it was the obvious choice especially as it was only a 5 min detour from our route. While I was researching the route, it looked like it may be possible to fly down from the summit, however I couldn’t find any information about it. The joy of my hike&fly gear is that it is so light that I don’t mind carrying it even if there is a very uncertain chance of flying. As the forecast was for a very hot day, we got up early and set off to make the most of the cooler morning air, especially as the first part of the ascent was fairly constant and in the woods. Eventually we emerged from the woods at the col at the start of the ridge. Read the full article…