Dear all
Too much QRL for weeks now, so “something else” was needed to clear away the cobwebs. The solution was SOTA of course!
Our Swiss chapter has planned two winter tours. One of them, in January 2020, will lead us to Selibüel, HB/BE-151, a summit of 1,750 m, located south of the capital Berne, just in the first ridge towards the Alps, scoring 6+3 points. It had been declared being simple and safe from avalanches. I had already heard several times that Selibüel is a really nice one, so I decided to have a closer look there before the group event.
I was there of my own and travelled therefore by public transportation. There is a yellow postbus between Schwarzenburg and Riggisberg, and the close bus stop is named “Gurnigel, Stierenhütten”. There is also a big car park there. The signpost shows 45 minutes to the summit, but it took me only 30 minutes: 20 minutes to the restaurant Selibüelhaus and further 10 minutes from there to the summit – and this despite about 10 cm of snow and many icy and therefore slippery patches. Selibüel is exposed to the south, so the sun is your partner, but only if there is any: sunshine was rare today around the summit.
Selibüel is said to be windy, and that was the disadvantage of the day. I had solid action several times (resp. a circuit training, hi) to save my hat and my seat cushions flying away from the summit! The antenna remained erected (cf. the report “Happy disaster activations!” of today by Sabrina, HB3XTZ, and René, HB9PIM, with an other experience), but I’m sure that the wind has added some further (mechanical, hi) QSB to my transmission.
Be aware to study carefully the timetable of the postbus and the opening periods of the nearby huts Selibüelhaus or Gurnigel. There is big gap of 3 hours in the timetable at afternoon and don’t miss the last bus at 16h27! Since I had fallen into this gap I prolongated the activation to about 2 hours despite the wind and took profit of coffee and cake on the stove bench of Selibüelhaus to recover from the chattering of teeth during the last QSO with HB9CNY, hi.
This summit was just an ufb choice for me today and was like a good spa. Enjoy some impressions!
. . . some moments of sunshine, creating happy SOTA operators!
It takes you 20 minutes to get to the Selibüelhaus from the bus stop. Great view to the mountains Gantrisch, Bürglen etc. in the 2nd row towards the Alps.
They had 15°C some days ago in front of the Selibüelhaus on 1,700 m.a.s.l. – but not today unfortunately.
No, only a short ascent of 10 minutes from the restaurant. There were around 10 cms of snow from some days ago. The trail was icy in parts, it softens and freezes constantly due to the exposition to the south.
The summit is really a nice one in my opinion.
View to the west, with some dark clouds approaching. They brought some snow flakes what made the proper use of the tablet difficult.
The sunshine was elsewhere most of the time when on the summit, hi. Nice views to the valley towards Berne and Thun.
The antenna did a good job again, I was happy with some contacts on 60 m, with @AC1Z on 20 m and Kurt, @HB9AFI, in SSB (rare!).
The last sunshine on the Bernese Alps.
Looking back at the bus stop – souvenirs of a nice and easy activation!
Vy 73 de Markus, HB9DIZ
