Mont Blanc 2016

Summit Info
1

Hi all,

Some information about the Mont Blanc expedition

The team is training daily.
If the weather is OK, they will try to reach the summit on 08/24.

They will sleep in the Goûter hut; not a long night since they will leave at 3 o’clock.
They expect to be on the top of Europe at 0900 / 1000 local time.

They will transmit on 40m first (unknown mode for now) until 1200.

I guess everyone is aware of the difficulty and that everyone will respect the normal rules of traffic.

More info to follow

Best 73 to all

F6ENO on behalf of F6HBI and all the team

Some photos of training

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08/04/2016 Part of the team on the "Mer de Glace"

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08/04/2016 “Mer de Glace” Frederic F8DQY keying

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08/03/2016 “Mer de Glace” André F6IGY (team leader), Jean Guy, Christian F8GHE, Frederic F8DQY

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08.06.2016. Top of the Buet (F/AB-126, 3096m). André F6IGY keying.

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08/08/2016 Climbing to Albert 1st hut; Frederic F8DQY and Theo

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08/11/2016 Glacier “Geant”, From the “Aiguille du Midi”, Gérald F6HBI and Christian F8GHE

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08/11/2016 Part of the team on the glacier "Geant"

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08/11/2016 Glacier “Geant” Christian F8GHE and Gérald F6HBI crossing a crevasse

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08/11/2016 F8UFT team on the glacier "Geant"

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08/13 Glacier des Bossons: F8GHE Christian, F6HBI Gérald, F8DQY Fred + Jean Guy, Serge, Théo, F4EZO Mathieu, F8IGY André.

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08/15 Aiguille des Grands Montets : Jean Guy, Serge, F8DQY Fred.

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08/15 Les Grands Montets, F8DQY Fred keying

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2

Hi,

I am in awe. Not a simple Sunday afternoon activation!

Good luck to all on the team.

73
Ron
VK3AFW

3

Bon Courage à tous !
Merci pour ces superbes photos Alain…
Je ne pense pas pouvoir être là pour les contacter… Championnats de France de tir à l’arc à Reims… A moins que… :wink:
Au plaisir
Tof F5UBH

4

Thanks for the info and the superb photos! I’ve been following the F8UFT expedition with much interest, and so far I’ve been able to work them on AB-258, AB-126, and AB-362. I’ve been very excited about this expedition since I first read the announcement back in the autumn of 2015. I hope to catch them tomorrow on AB-003 and AB-015, and of course I’m looking forward to the big one; Mont Blanc, AB-001!

The planned activation date of August 24 for AB-001 you mentioned is correct? It’s not August 21 anymore? The UFT site is still mentioning August 21 as the planned activation day. Because if it’s the 24th, I’ll have to arrange something at work to be off that day.

Thanks again and 73 de PA7MDJ

5

Hello all
I confirm that the expedition will try the Mont Blanc on August 24th.
They had to change the date so that they can sleep in the Goûter hut which is not so far from the summit than Tête Rousse hut as expected first.
The info came from André F6IGY (team leader).
I keep you in touch about the QRG and Modes
AND GOOD LUCK !!!

73 Alain F6ENO

6

Bonjour à toute l’équipe
Bonne Rando/Radio à tous les participants.
Cordiales 73 UFT
André f5ukl

7

Thanks, Alain! I wish the F8UFT team good luck with the upcoming climbs and look forward to working them on AB-001!

73 de Michael PA7MDJ

8

Last news this evening from Gérald F6HBI:

When on top of Mont blanc (09:30 / 10:00 loc) they will start CW on 40m (7013 +/-, UFT QRG, then 7032) with Fred F8DQY keying (Pse QRS).
Fred will do his best according to WX (cold temp); then, when his fingers will get frozen… Mathieu, F4EZO will start SSB on 40m, 7090 KHz.
During this, Gérald F6HBI will be on 10.122 and/or 14.061 CW.
They will use 2 FT817, inverted V and Atlas 100 vertical antennas.

Gérald will also be on D-star DCS033S, and QRV aprs.fi F6HBI-7

73 Alain F6ENO

1 Like
9

They should be near the summit now (08/24 08h10 LOC)
73 Alain F6ENO

10

Around 4740 m As at 06:55 l… Very Windy and cold !!! Follow F6HBI-7 on APRS.fi and D-star on DCS033SL

11

12

Reached the top ?

13

Last APRS data half an hour ago - perhaps another is due - monitoring apri.fi and 7MHz.

Ed.

14

Now active on 7.013 CW - about S2 into Munich.

15

It’s like a ZOO. Big pile-up…

16

Yes but it’s a real SOTA DX… hi !
Gud luck to all
73 Alain F6ENO

1 Like
17

Félicitations à la conquête réussie du pic.

Merci pour les QSO!

Descente réussie, je vous souhaite une heureuse arrivée à la maison!

                                                           73   DX   Pista   HA5TI
18

Please pass my congratulations on to the team. This is a GREAT achievement. Something to peak interest (sorry for the unintentional pun).

I actually heard the station on 40m SSB (and spotted them), however was unable to get through the major pile-up.

I’m guessing all were on the summit for almost an hour including set-up and pack-up times, in icy cold winds. Lets hope they are now back at the hut getting warmed up from the outside and perhaps from the inside as well.

Very well done to all involved in the activation.

73 Ed.

1 Like
19

Congratulations to all the team that activated F/AB-001 today this morning!!!

If I understood well in one of their transmissions, WX was difficult, with very low temperatures due to strong winds. It should have been very complex to deploy the antennas up there…

I copied them well both on 40 and 30m CW, and the pile up was really BIG.
I was activating EA2/NV-119 and after I finished I wait for them, looking they were after the schedule…

When I heard them, I first tried to call S2S on 40 but no space for me. Then QSYed to 30m, and after some unsuccesfull calls the op (I guess F6HBI) called /P? and I tried to complete but it was really hard because some colleagues didn’t allowed me to exchange. They ignored the request from F8UFT sending “only /P” several times but we got on and managed to get the calls both ways… Excelent operator up in Mont Blanc dealing not only with frozen temperature but also with poor operation in band…

Thanks a lot for your effort and I really look forward to hear the full story and some pictures if you send a report.

73 and keep on doing so well.
Ignacio

20

Hello Ignacio,
I am just back home… Yes it was realy difficult to do CW with -35°C with gloves.
Fred was on 40M, and i was on 30M trying to avoid the volontary QRM (tune and other noise!)
Any way we did the highest S2S never done before! That’s made me happy.
73 cu agn Gerald F6HBI

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