NW activation report 23-27 May 2008

Hi all/

Apologies to those who were unable to work me over the bank holiday weekend. I was up there but things weren’t going according to plan

Sat 24th: Snowdon. Ascended via the Ranger path and decided that, as the wind has dropped, to do Crib Goch (and back). Consequently I was on NW-001 much later than advertised. Stuck it out for about 45 minutes but the wind had returned, reports say gusting 55mph. At times I could only tell there was someone out there by watching the S-meter, I often couldn’t actually hear anything. Graham JZF: I could hear you calling but obviously you couldn’t hear me.

Sun 25th: Cadaer Idris NW-009. Straight forward ascent from Ty Nant but the wind was now up to 60mph. For activation I had to hide behind the hut or summit outcrop which will have hindered my signals. Struggled with 5 contacts, couldn’t explore the local summits due to weather, glad to get off.
Interesting to see the plaque (mentioned elsewhere) dedicated to the runner who completed the race in 1hour 25 minutes. The full story is that the runner (Will Ramsbottom) won the race but was killed on Cadaer Idris in an abseiling accident the following day. His time is from Dolgellau town centre to the summit and back! The record is now 1 hr 21 minutes. The race took place on 24th May,the winner got from Ty Nant to the summit in 27 minutes.

Mon 26th: Now things were getting silly. Decided to take 8 points from Y Garn NW-004. Forecast 70MPH! winds were probably accurate. Not too bad until I reached the top of the Devils Kitchen, at least the wind was blowing from the valley, I wouldn’t have gone if it was the otehr way. Again, activated by hiding behind the summit outcrop. Any plans for NW-005 or NW-003 were a total non-starter. Bovril and pastie at Idwal was calling.

Tue 27th: Winds now only 50mph but couldn’t even see Tryfan, NW-006. Left it for another day. Decided to take 4 points off Tal-y-Fan (deserved them for the drive up there). No visibility at all, damp and horrible. Had to climb onto the trig point to complete two QSO’s. Got my 4 and gave up.

Considering the poor weather, I was happy to come away with 32 points, two uniques (NW-009 and WB-004 on Friday), and two new 3000 footers. I prefer to spend a good time on summits working as many people as possible but it didn’t happen this time. I didn’t even take the 2m beam up there, it probably would have flown across the Irish Sea!

Back in September

Cheers

Mick 2E0MCV