I’m planning to do a trip to Flores Island, Azores, in the summer and planned to activate all summits in the island (photo below).
Flores Island and it’s Monchique Islet is the western piece of land belonging to Europe
I’ve been in Flores island some times and I know quite well the geography of this outstanding piece of land in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.
From this I know that CU/FL-005, Ilheu da Mina, is only reachable by helicopter or parachute jumping… While the second would comply with SOTA rules, there are no available planes to do that in the island… There are neither helicopter and wouldn’t be legal…
Any thoughts what to do other than email to AM (which I did) ?
There are many SOTA summits that will be impossible for most SOTA enthusiasts, but there will almost always be some skilled rock climber who can make it to the top. Take a look at VK9/LH-003 Mountaineering exploits: Ball's Pyramid.
One day a skilled climber may just be a SOTA activator on CU/FL-005.
GM/SI-002 is called the " Inaccessible Pinnacle" but MM0DHY activated it The In Pin
Jim G0CQK
I understood the content of your post but this is not a SOTA summit “that will be impossible for most SOTA enthusiasts”. This is a litle beyond that…
I must assume that I did not disclose all information (sometimes we assume that everybody knows…). Sorry!
In fact the minor problem is climbing to the top. It’s dangerous but not the biggest problem.
Those who will try will face:
No place to land at the islet
Sharp and slippery rock walls all around the islet, covered with animal excrements and algae;
So, one must to be almost a suicidal combat diver and a excepcional swimmer…The equipment should be completely watertigh and shock proof…
There are some reasons why nobody, ever, got there!
Did I forgot to mention the rough seas, high winds (+200 km/h winds are common in the winter/autumn/spring) and how far this island is from any major International Azores airport (+1 h flight) ?..
By the way, if someone decides to take a chance, the sharks are friendly (they just scare most of the people)…
Saying that, the first that will activate CU/FL-005 should be a very very very very lucky amateur radio.
Twice lucky to get in and twice to get out!
I’m not a chaser (other than S2S) but, if someone succeeds to activate this summit I hope that he will upload the log to SOTA DB before descend…Just in case…
As the criteria determining whether a location qualifies for SOTA are entirely a matter of geography, there will, inevitably, be some summits which will qualify for inclusion, but will be extremely challenging or impossible to activate. CU/FL-005 may be one, but I doubt it’s the only one. That’s geography for you.
Hi Compton, nothing in the rules prohibits the use of a helicopter. Unfortunately people make their own sometimes incorrect interpretations and then others run with that as a fact without looking at the rules…
As to difficult peaks, I reckon that Ball’s Pyramid (VK9/LH-004) will be one of if not the hardest to activate summits in the world - unless you are a world class climber, a helo might be the only option (if you can find a pilot crazy enough to try to drop someone off on the top). Unfortunately it appears that there are quite stringent controls o accessing the island so doubt a helo would be authorised.
If you get dropped off onto the summit then you can take a pair of “rocket-pants(*)” with you and your radio gear. Once the activtation is complete, pack away your gear and use the rocket pants to rise majestically from the summit to the waiting helicopter. Simples!
(*) as seen on Robbie Rocketpants, the well known Saturday morning TV show for kids.
