OH/KI-012, -003, -053 and -054 activation

First summit was OH/KI-012 Muurivaara 842 m on Tuesday evening August 23. I used the Saarijärvi wilderness hut as a base camp and left most of my hiking gear there. The Saarijärvi is about 12 km walk from Kilpisjärvi. Since the weather forecast promised rain for Tuesday I took also the outer tent from the Akto with me. I reached the summit in about an hour. I put up the tent and the fishing rod next to it to support the link dipole. The Muurivaara has the border marker between Norway and Finland. The rain starts to drop soon. First to reply on 14058 kHz is G4ZGP and then HA7UG. On 10118 kHz only one Estonian station. Nobody on 40 m. Back to the wilderness hut, which has been heated up by three elder hikers to dry their clothes.

Next morning from the hut to Lake Duolljehuhputlattu. I cook lunch there. The lemming population is moving this year and there is some worry wheather the water in rivers and lakes is good for drinking as some of them might have drowned there. The OH/KI-003 Duolljehuhput 1082 m is also marking the border between Norway and Finland. I put up the tent there too, though the weather stays almost dry with only few drops of rain.

Thursday morning the weather is fine. The map shows that on the route to the Lake Goddejavri there are some kilometers of boulder fields. These turn out to be not as bad as I expected and the dry weather helps too. I have lunch on Goddejavri and start to climb to OH/KI-053 Loassonibba 1190 m. This is the only summit where I meet somebody else. I ask advice for the descend and discuss a little about the weather. The wind is strong and I use the pile of rocks to protect myself from the wind. DF5WA is waiting for me on 14058 kHz and soon the SOTA pile-up starts. I give QRT at 19:33 local time, since I need to find a place for my tent from the rocky Lake Goddejavri and prepare the dinner too.

Friday hiking back to Lake Duolljehuhputlattu and lunch there. It takes about two hours to reach the OH/KI-054 Kahperusvaarat 1143 m from the lake. The wind is blowing darker clouds from South to my direction. HA7UG finds me soon on 14058 kHz. I am on the air only for about half an hour. In case of thunderstorm there is no fast escape from this summit. The rain starts only later in the evening when I am already inside the sleeping bag.

Saturday walking back from the camp to Kilpisjärvi. The total distance walked was about 80 km for these four summits. The weather was favorable for SOTA activity. Thanks to all spotters.

Map: Halti Kilpisjärvi 1:50 000

Radio: ATS3B, 8xAA alkaline, link dipole 6 m up

Photos: f5vgl | Flickr

thanks for your report about the sota-activations. i have been hiking in this area some years ago (from kilpisjärvi to mt. halti and back). this brings back lot’s of nice memories …

:slight_smile:

73, martin