Motivation
To end my stay in the Pyrenees this year, I decided to activate a second summit near the campsite of Zuriza; Mt. Ezkaurre, 2045 m a.s.l.
When EA2/NV association was first released (in 2010), this mountain was referenced as of EA2/NV-002. In one of the later reviews the mountain was transferred into EA2/HU association, as the peak lies on the very frontier between HU and NV.
My first activated summit has been reported here, with driving directions to arrive in this camping: Alanos
When I woke up ready to start the hike I found there were low clouds and light rain. The weather didn’t improve until late in the afternoon so I had to wait for the next day.
Activation date: 16 of July 2020
Climb
- Track length: 2,8 kilometer (one way)
- Height gain: 780 m (again a huge climb for a short length path)
Mt. Ezkaurre is a massive rocky mountain. The river Veral makes a big break with its neighbor Mt. Alano, and therefore this mountain shows a large prominence towards the East. See its beauty that morning when I left the campsite.
The route is marked here. The orange part in the middle is a bit scary, as we will see later.
To start the trail I parked at the Col of Argibiela (Col of Navarre) at 1260 m. Then you enter in the forest and spend there the first part of the trail. The slope is huge most of the time, and although there is a pleasant shade in the forest you have to walk with effort.
The path is clear and marked regularly with red and white flags in trees:
Once you exit the forest you see what is still left, a tiny path with loose stones in a very bent rocky plaque. It is quite impressive.
See how it looks when looking left (towards Mt. Alano opposite) and down towards the campsite:
I had to progress slowly and carefully to avoid any bad step. From time to time I stopped and relaxed by looking the mountains towards North, with the low level clouds there as usual: (the peak at left is Ori, EA2/NV-003)
Once this bent part was completed I kept on walking by the a wide rocky area. This part seems as never is gonna end:
Finally I reached the summit, a flat and wide area with some lower levels around and marked with a thick square trig point:
Activation
I installed my EFHW inverted vee. There was no wind at all and it was easy to set it up, using stones to hold the cords.
Equipment: MTR + 3 cell 18650.
Before starting I spent some minutes fiddling with my morse key that wasn’t playing well. Hopefuly I had a spare key so I swapped and the problem was solved…
I ran on 7, 10 and 14 MHz and it all went fine, logging many frequent chasers.
I had a call from HB9CBR/P but he wasn’t in a SOTA but in a HBFF for Flora fauna. Anyway it’s always a pleasure to greet Bruno!
Fabio IK2LEY/P called me for a S2S. When the activation was over I started my handheld and I heard my friend Luis EA2DPZ/P calling from EA2/NV-120. We had a pleasant qso and I ended my log working Manuel EA2DT in VHF, although he is got limited gear for this band (but he deals well with such limitation, hi).
My log was closed with 49 qso.
Return
When I collected all in my rucksack I saw at the end of the plateau a couple of mountaineers deploying parachutes to descend from the summit. I was envy!
Before I leave the summit, a last view in front of me revealed the impressive row of peaks, and recognized the highest mountain in Navarre: EA2/NV-001 Hiru Erregeen Mahaia, together with other high mountains:
On my way down I was happy thinking on how well the activation went. I took the very steep section of the climb so I put all my attention on the path avoiding to fell off. Suddenly, one of the parachuters apeared in front of me. It seems she had troubles with its parachute and decided to land just in front of me. She was lucky to choose the right point; if she had overcome the path it would have been a disaster going out from there!
After 1h 40 minutes I arrived down the track, tired but happy.
Well, my Pyrenees SOTA tour 2020 has ended happily with two activation. I have plenty of new mountains waiting for me next year; which one should I pick first?
Look forward to get back ready for new adventures.
73 de Ignacio
