Activation of Carnedd Y Filiast GW/NW-032

Hi All,

Carnedd Y Filiast,05/07/2009

We decided to do this one after Allan,G3MPJ a supposedly good friend of mine told us the views were “wonderful”.

We set off at 7.30 from Helsby,expecting a 1&1/2 Hour Drive minimum. This would give us over two hours to walk to summit. I knew it would be what we class as a long walk in. Arriving at Lakeside parking,at 9am,we set off up the Farm track through the woods to the gate at edge of pine trees. Turning right across the Heather and under the electricity pylons. This path today was very wet and if there were no loose gravel then it was bog! Just as we turned in front of Foel Boeth,the clouds opened and we had Torrential Rain,we got our TJ’s Special waterproofs out of bag and hoped for better weather on summit!!??

Continuing along well worn path ,we arrived at Stream that was quite heavy and took some gingerly walking across loose stones that were wet and full of moss. climbing now round col of Summit,back to really loose stones on path,making it difficult to get a good pace going.After what seemed to be an eternity we arrived at slight left turn across heather which was a short but more direct path to summit,an alternative route as we could now see the Trig and Cairn in all their glory! We were glad we used this route as when we reached the top we spotted that the path up was well out of the way.

We both agreed, This was the hardest walk in to date,and we genuinely struggled to reach Trig, 2hrs and 45 mins to reach summit with very boggy and lots of loose gravel on path. The Shelter cairn with its Trig inside was more than a welcome sight today,the rain had lightened but still with us. We decided to get inside shelter and set up camp,as there was no other people up there.

Set up,we decided to kick off on 2m ssb,and not finding a clear frequency,started chasing 2m contacts that were calling on all the range of 2m ssb. Making sure I had the correct IO locator we manged 17 contacts on 2m ssb, this included 4 contacts into Scotland,a unique contact with a G5(G5FZ/P) thanks for that. We also got 2 S2S with firstly both Tom/Jimmy M1EYP/M3EYP both Portable from WB-010 and secondly John GX0OOO/P on NP-008.
After calling on 70cm ssb,4mFM and 6m SSB again these wre no response.( I think I need to look at my Antennas for all these bands before my next Activity.)

To Summarise, The veiws from the summit were good but no comparison to Cadair Berwyn. The walk in was a big struggle for us both today,genuinly worn us out,as I write this we are both sitting here with our feet in bowls soaking away the aches from the day. 17 contacts and 2 S2S was a big bonus for the summit and made the day worthwhile,but my phrase would be “not too impressed with this one for a 4 pointer!”.

Thanks for all those who allowed me to chase them ,A special Thanks to Tom and John for my S2S’sand thanks for Elaine struggling and pushing me on to get up and down.

Calls logged on database and a couple of pics on Flicker as usual.

73

Tony

In reply to 2E0LAE:

Thanks for the report Tony and well done on the activation. Pity you didn’t make any contacts on 70cms, 4m or 6m, but a decent total on 2m SSB anyway. Your comments on the track up make me even more certain that I want to tackle this one in the winter bonus period when it cool and crisp, maybe with frozen ground to help with the boggy bits. The 7 points would also be more of an encouragement!

73, Gerald

In reply to 2E0LAE:
Thanks for an interesting report Tony delivered at the speed of sound! It was great to work you S2S yesterday but now I know what you had to suffer to get there. While my flysheet was fending off heavy showers, you were soaking it up. Reading between the lines, I don’t think you’ll be going back there in a hurry!

Well done,
73, John G4YSS.
(VHF-NFD - G/NP-008)

In reply to 2E0LAE:

Tony

Thanks for the report and the contact in the Backpackers Contest. You may want to enter your contacts into the online system at http://www.vhfcc.org as they are trying to encourage real backpackers to enter these contests.

I had hoped to be QRV from a SOTA hill for some s2s contacts but the need to get back home to attend a bbq at 5pm meant that I had to use a local site. Cloud and Gun are poor to the east and Shining Tor was too close to a VHF NFD station at Axe Edge (although mysteriously they had disappeared by Sunday morning) so I went to Merryton Low instead.

Several chasers and activators called me - thanks, much appreciated!

73

Richard
G3CWI

In reply to 2E0LAE:

Tony,

I did put a few shouts out on 70cms from GM/SS-028 but didn’t get any joy either, I think I must have been a bit too early for you by the time you switched to 70cms, I was a bit earlier on summit than advertised! I did hear another station but couldn’t get back to them.
Missed you on 2m ssb as well, ah well I missed quite a few folks by the looks of it, next time :slight_smile:
Well done on the activation.

Iain, M3WJZ

In reply to G4OIG:

Hi Gerald,

Good Luck on the winter Activation, Its no exageration to say this was a tough one on this route in!

Will watch for your alert with anticipation.

73
Tony

In reply to G4YSS:

Hi John,

Thanks for the S2S and the contact up there,good distance between us is always a better log in.

At one point just before the Photo was taken we actually had the brolly up to protect my Gear, if you look closely you can see it on the floor beside me.

We have done it now and I know there are Activators out there a lot fitter than us,but we have decided it was the toughest challenge walk in yet,but we done it thats the main thing! ( and yes I doubt we will return but who’s knows)

73

Tony

In reply to G3CWI:

Hi Richard, always good to get you in my log anytime,

It shows that your SOTABeam was working well,getting me into GM on a number of contacts.

Will sort out contest calls and the photos are impressive.

73

Tony

In reply to M3WJZ:

Hi Iain,

Yes very quiet on these bands again, but I really need to check my Antennas also.

The SOTABeam got me into GM for four contacts so cant complain about that with 10watts!

Will keep an ear out for again.

73

Tony