Wye Valley Trail, Llangurig

The forecast had been changing all week, so when I woke and the sun was shining it offered an opportunity.
I decided on a walking the Wye Valley trail between Pont Rhydgaled and Llangurig - what I thought was just a wander down the river!
To make this a circular walk I came up with an outward trail up to Hafren Forest so I could park at Llangurig.

Camlo Hill, Abbey-cwm-hir

A day without rain in the current spell so we determined to go for a walk - this time to Abbey-cwm-hir - an old Cistercian monastery. I picked the walk out of a Kittiwake book, as it went around the slopes of this valley through the coniferous forests. Most of the route was also shown on the local council notice board map. We would combine the green and blue routes, joining over Cwmysgawen Common.

Pumlumon Fawr, Source of the river Wye

The weather was on the change... the sunny days of this week were changing with a colder northerly wind, bringing showers. To make the most of the better weather, Sue and I went for a walk to reach the source of the river Wye up at the border of Powys and Ceredigion.
My idea was to park at Eisteddfa Gurig, and walk up the trail to Pumlumon Fawr, then along the ridge line before dropping down the valley marked on the map as the source. Down through the mine workings (along the start of the Wye valley trail), before splitting off to return over the moors to the car park.

Trembyd, Newbridge-on-Wye

I had been busy all week with odd jobs and was ruing the good weather, so after a slow start to the day, I decided to go off for a local walk.
I would take the roads up to the local top - Trembyd then come back along the Wye valley trail.

Dinefwr park Stroll

We had to take the van out of storage and ensure the van battery did not go flat. This time we visited the National Trust park at Dinefwr, just outside Llandeilo, and went for a walk around the grounds.

Patscherkofel, Innsbruck

The original idea for this day was to meet up with Tim and Michael (from the AAC) together with anyone from their tour party who was interested - they would leave for a hut tour the next day. We had agreed on the closest ski area to Innsbruck - Patscherkofel as the starting point. The aim was to get some piste skiing done as well as a little skinning - the top of the mountain can be reached via a short track around the summit cone.
Following this we would then depart for home and they would prepare for their tour.

Birgitzjochhaus from Götzens

The day turned out to follow the forecast and a clear sky greeted the day. We had planned a route up to the Birgitzjochhaus - the closed hut at the col overlooking Axamer Lizum that we had seen from the top of Birgitzköpfl. We also had to pack up from the apartment as our time was up there, which did not delay us, but did mean we had a car full driving around.

Day Trip, Innsbruck

For the second day we awoke to rain (not quite as heavy as yesterday), however this was forecast and we had determined that we should go and be tourists for a day. We had never visited Innsbruck as we had always travelled past on our visits to this area. This was also supported by the fact that we got had a card from the residence that gave us free train rides and car parking on the Brennerbahn.

Walk down to Steinach, Trins

After 6 days  of good weather, we woke up to heavy rain hammering down..  not really sure where the snow line was and with the clouds down over the tops, we had a lazy start to the day.

Once the rain stopped we debated what to do - another stroll around the village taking in the other side of the valley and the "chateau". The next was to go up to the head of the valley and explore the paths around the end. However we settled on walking down to Steinach and taking in the the Brenner Basis Tunnel exhibition.

Sandjöchl, Obernbergtal

The weather was on the turn - not drastically, but the sky was now covered in clouds, although there had still been a frost overnight. There was also a warning of the Foehn wind coming from the south, as we had seen yesterday. We chose to go back to Obernbergtal and head towards Grubenkopf, we could make the cool even if the summit proved too windy.

Afternoon Stroll2, Trins

After our ski tour this morning we had done a quick recce up the Obernberg valley to see if the rodelbahn down from Oberreinsalm was viable for ascent after todays iceskating exploits - it looked OK. Then back to the apartment, however itchy feet took us out for another stroll in the afternoon.
This time we headed along the valley the other way (down stream) with similar tour - along the high road and back along the main track.

Sattelberg from Gries, Brenner valley

A fourth clear day, however change would be on its way as there were cirrus clouds and the aeroplane trails were being spread by upper atmosphere winds. We chose to return to one of the classic routes in the area and climb Sattelberg - a peak overlooking the Brenner pass that used to have ski infrastructure. The climb starts under the motorway and ascends to the Sattleberg Alm (the old ski restaurant) then after a sharp turn, up to the summit.

Afternoon Stroll, Trins

As we were back early from our main walk, it seemed a good opportunity to have a wander around the village before dinner. The map showed a number of village roads that would make a circuit, heading first up the valley then down and back along the "main" valley road.

Vennspitze from Padaun, Brenner Valley

Another clear day - we are not really used to day after day of sun, however we chose to return to an old favourite route - Vennspitze. This is a straight forward route, with little navigation issues, however there will be an opportunity to test out the summit slope and see how it is behaving with respect to avalanche risk.

Birgitzköpfl from Adelshof, Axams

After checking out the southern orientated slopes yesterday, we looked to repeat the exercise on the northern slopes. We chose to repeat a route we had done a couple of years ago, this wound through the forest to Birgitzer Alm from the north, then over the slopes to the Birgitzköpfl.

Nosslachjoch from the Eastern side, Brenner Valley

The first mountain day of this years ski touring trip, and we needed to check out the real conditions on the slopes. The avalanche forecast had dropped form its unprecedented highs of the recent weeks and was now down to 2 below 2000m.

2026 Spring Ski Tour, Austria

Overview

The time had come around once more to be heading off to the Alps (again) for a few days in the mountains with skis. The avalanche forecast had been extreme for several weeks and we were in two minds whether to cancel or go. In the end we compromised and decided we could go and stay low doing day trips. We settled on going back to the Brenner valley in a kind of "greatest Hits" tour, and revisit some of the routes we had done in the past and knew would be relatively safe.

Wye Valley Trail, Garreg Lwyd

The forecast was for another sunny (or rather not raining) day, so Sue and I took the opportunity for another day out. The plan was to complete the next section of the Wye Valley trail above Rhayader starting at Gilfach nature reserve. We would follow a route from the Kittywake books, that went through the reserve then around the back of Yr Wylorn up to Blaen y Bwlch. From here up to Garreg Lwyd and then the wind turbine field at Gwastad, before dropping to Dolhelfa-ganol farm. Over the river adn back along the Wye valley trail.

Penygarreg Reservoir & Crugyn Ci, Elan Valley

There was another relatively "good" day forecast in a week of rain showers, so Sue & I chose to go back to Elan Valley and visit the two dams further up the valley we had been to last week. The idea was to start at Penygarreg dam and walk along the Elan valley trail to Craig Goch dam, then up onto the plateau above to Esgair Perfedd. Down to the mountain road via the roman camp, before returning to the plateau via Crugyn Ci, finally along the bridleway back to the lower dam.

Disserth Circuit, Newbridge

Another break in the weather - there may even be some sun..  so while the others were off to a craft market, I picked out a short route local to home.
The idea was to follow the Path to Llandrindod-Wells to Disserth then come back along the rail line, before turning back to Newbridge near the saw mill.
I set out on the familiar track out from the village across to the B4358 then into the field opposite.

Garth, Builth Wells

Sue and Steph were off to the Royal Welsh Showground in Builth, so I tagged along for a ride. My idea was to wander up Garth - a hill overlooking the town, then back down for some lunch. Unfortunately the weather was not very kind today and I spent all day in wet weather gear.