Blog Posts in Category: Paragliding

Greifenburg Paragliding

Alastair BegleyAustria, Paragliding Short Link

With another good forecast I headed back down to the south side of the main ridge for another attempt at a big FAI triangle, yet again it did not go to plan, however on this occasion I only have myself to blame. Everything was a bit of a rush as my original plan was to head to Sillian, however when we got there we found that Saturday was the rest day for the lift, I did not think to check that a Gondola which I knew was operational was running on a Saturday! We hastily made our way to Greifenburg, where Becky drove me up to the Emberger Alm which saved some time. After a quick walk up to the start place I setup and quickly launched, it was clear that the conditions were good, but not as good as forecast with a much lower cloud base. The first leg went well until I got to the valley crossing which had to be taken in order to make the route a 100km FAI triangle, for some reason, despite knowing that I was way too low to make this crossing easily,. Read the full article…

Sillian Paragliding

Alastair BegleyAustria, Italy, Paragliding Short Link

With a great forecast for the day in Osttirol, I decided to head down to Sillian for a day, hoping to manage a 100km FAI triangle. The day started later than I was hoping, however there was still plenty of time to make the triangle as I started. The first section of the flight went pretty smoothly, although I would have liked some stronger thermals, however on my first major valley crossing I realised that there was a much stronger west wind than was forecast due to Föhn over the main alpine ridge between Bruneck and Innsbruck. This resulted in two problems, firstly I had a poor glide and secondly I dropped down into the Lee at the end of the valley crossing. When this was combined with also dropping through an inversion layer resulted in thermals which were impossible for me to climb in, really strong pockets of rising air which were far to small to complete a turn in. After fighting for ages, I came to the conclusion that it wasn’t going to work and made my way to land in Italy. Thankfully getting back to Launch was. Read the full article…

Verbier Paragliding

Alastair BegleyParagliding, Switzerland Short Link

We spend a week in Verbier while Becky was doing a paragliding course to get more experience in longer flights and improve her confidence. Unfortunately we were not blessed with great weather, with an entire day lost to rain and on the other days the conditions were not great with windy conditions up high and a very low base. This meant my plans for lots of XC went quickly out of the window, however I did enjoy a week with a reasonable amount of flying, and it was certainly scenic around Verbier.

A short cross country flight from Brauneck to Eschenlohe

Alastair BegleyBavaria, Paragliding Short Link

I headed to my local site of Brauneck for my first proper XC flight over the year, after a very very slow start due to terrible weather throughout May. It was an enjoyable flight with absolutely stunning views, unfortunately it ended earlier than necessary as I left a thermal earlier than necessary as I thought it was certain that I would find more lift on the ridge, which did not materialise and meant that I dropped into the shady north side which was also in the Lee, which meant that there was no hope of climbing back up. I did however manage to land right next to a train station, and caught a train 2mins after I arrived at the platform, so my journey back to Munich was very easy. It was great to be back in the air on a proper XC flight for the first time this season, and it was great to have finally had a good flight from Brauneck.

Mayrhofen Paragliding

Alastair BegleyAustria, Paragliding Short Link

This year the start to the paragliding season was very slow, however I eventually managed to get my first flight in at Mayrhofen at the start of April. It was very busy due to a competition which led me to make some poor decisions to try and get away from the crowds, which meant that after a short soar around take off, I just enjoyed a nice long glide down the valley.

2023 in 100 Photos

Alastair Begley100 Photos, Austria, Bavaria, Dolomites, General, Germany, Italy, Landscape, Mountaineering, Paragliding, Rock Climbing, Scrambling, Ski Touring, Skiing, Slovenia, Via Ferrata, Walking, Winter Walking Short Link

All to quickly it was once again the end of another year and time to reflect on the year. This year we really started to settle into our routine of living an hour from the Alps, with travel being much easier and having settled into Munich life, both professionally and socially. Unfortunately at the start of the year Becky had an accident and badly broke her wrist which was also misdiagnosed which delayed her recovery. This significantly impacted our year as we were unable to climb, klettersteig or ride our bikes for most of the year. The highlights of the year for me have to be Becky’s continued progression at skiing with her initial foray into ski touring, my ski mountaineering adventure on the Ruderhofspitze, my continued paragliding progression with my first flight over 100km, our wonderful holiday together to Slovenia and a beautiful walk near munich with a combination of snow&autumn colours. Winter Winter continued with lots of weekends away skiing with family, friends from the UK and friends from Munich, it seemed like we had a constant stream of visitors which as wonderful. Becky’s progression continued and she. Read the full article…

Col Rodella Paragliding

Alastair BegleyDolomites, Paragliding Short Link

After muddling up my days and doing a Hike and Fly on the day which ended up being a better XC day than forecast, I was hoping for a repeat of the same today. Unfortunately this was no to be, as the base remained as low and the high cloud came in as forecast. After a very leisurely morning waiting for the day to start, I eventually started to get ready when it seemed that there was a good chance of staying up. Unfortunately as I finished getting ready to launch the wind changed 180 degrees and meant that I had to walk to the other start. Not wanting to repack everything, I just walked with a bunched glider which was just about ok, other than being very warm in all my flying clothes. Arriving at the alternative start, I then had to wait more until this start place started to work, however eventually I was able to launch. The thermals were all very weak, and the challenge was to get high enough to transition to the big cliffs. I came very close to managing to get enough height, but. Read the full article…

Col Pelous Hike&Fly

Alastair BegleyDolomites, Paragliding, Walking Short Link

With the forecast for XC not looking that great, I decided to do a Hike&Fly instead as this would be a more enjoyable day than sitting and hoping for good flying conditions. Although as it turned out, the day was great and I should definitely have gone to do an XC as an hour after I landed I could count over 50 pilots above Marmolada, and as I parked up for the night in the Sella Pass there were another 50 pilots enjoying the evening thermals on Saas Pordoi. I decided to head up Col Pelous as it was a decent walk to the summit, which promised fantastic views, and it certainly delivered. Despite there being no rush on the walk up I endured a pretty fast pace and did the 4.6km walk with 860m of ascent in 1h32m elapsed time, stopping only for a few photos on the way up. Due to the fast ascent I arrived at the summit a sweaty mess, with most of my clothes soaked in sweat. Therefore I decided to enjoy a chilled out lunch on the summit in the sun while everything dried. Read the full article…