The Majestic Cìr Mhòr
I’ve been meaning to get over to Arran for a long time. It’s home to Cìr Mhòr, a striking granite pinnacle and near-perfect cone from almost every angle — and I’ve been itching to climb it.
The journey up the M6 is worth it boss, for another trip on CalMac and a Scottish Island!
I packed up the van on Wednesday and made the long haul up the M6, ready to catch the ferry on Thursday morning. About a year ago I was on another of the Scottish islands, Rúm during a solar event and I had to rely on 2m with HF dead. That was really quite an enjoyable challenge and so in the days leading up to the trip, I decided to quickly throw together a super lightweight 100g Yagi and was keen to see how it would perform on 2m!
Yagi in action on goatfell
Goatfell GM/SI-006 
Thursday kicked off with the ferry from Troon. Given the time taken to get onto Arran I decided to head up Goatfell, the shortest of days I had planned. Besides a famous SOTA youtuber was after a complete.
But what a day to do it - full on sunshine, factor 30 made me wonder if the midges would be out - which is pretty rare for March! I chose a quieter route via the north summit, which required a little bit of scrambling when traversing across from North to the main summit.
The top was in the bag after a couple of hours
Ganite playground - Goatfell ridge from north to the main summit
At the summit, I set up the Yagi and got stuck in - managing an huge pile up of 31 contacts on 2m! I had promised @MM0EFI a complete on HF and kept him waiting a long time trying to manage all the chatter and calls on 2m. Rather chuffed with that result and great to hear so much activity on the band. I managed to catch Archie @GM4KNU/P on GM/CS-010, and after an extended stay on the summit, I managed to work him again on his next summit, GM/CS-041, just as I was thinking of the descent.
Cìr Mhòr GM/SI-011
Today was the day to bag Cìr Mhòr.
Cìr Mhòr Summit Cone
The approach was through Glen Sannox was stunning - what a fine glen. As I made my way up, Cìr Mhòr gradually came into view, looking more and more impressive with every step.
Glen Sannox
I’d planned an early start to hopefully coincide with some of the ES GM crew activating SOTA summits, but I had a classic slackers’ start, the ascent was very steep and this quickly threw my timing out the window. The climb up was relentless… and I wasn’t exactly moving fast.
But when I neared the summit, the views were incredible.
Not much room here - Cir Mor summit
The summit was rather short of space, - barely any room to operate. I somehow managed to wedge some guys between the rocks and got a wire up for HF. VHF was limited to a few contacts with the HT and rubber duck. Had fine S2S with @GM4ALX, @2M0RVZ and another (#3) with Archie @GM4KNU on GM/SS-156
Cir Mor
It was a short stay on top before heading off toward the next one.
Caisteal Abhail GM/SI-007
*Caisteal Abhail from Cir Mor, Witches step is the notch on the on the right ridge *
Caisteal Abhail has a giant Granite tor on the summit, a fortress that requires a short scramble to summit. What a great place with views out to sea and to Cìr Mhòr from what has to be its finest angle and one of the best views in Scotland! A further S2S with @GW4EKU in south wales and Archie (#4) on GM/SS-156 !
Caisteal Abhail Summit Tor
Witches Step
The descent of Caisteal Abhail involved a scramble of the Witches Step.
The Witches Step
Shadow and I have been over many scrambles in the highlands, so I consider us experienced. But I took one look at the Witches Step and decided it looked like an absolutely insane scramble. Just nuts. The crux which is meant to be a grade 3 scramble is an exposed slab with consequences not worth thinking about.
looking up from the Bealach - crux is the overhanging block on the front left!
So we took the bypass, a steep descent of 100m down a gully and then a decent scramble to get back up the ridge. I decided that the bypass needs a bypass! and at the end of it all, I needed a tripple…
Following this there was a rapid descent passing the Glen Sannox Barytes Mine and back to the start at beachhead of Glen Sannox.
Glen Sannox Barytes Mine - a good detour on the descent. Decided that the dead sheep, nevermind the 1m deep water was quite far enough
Beinn Bharrain GM/SI-027
Today was meant to be my “day off”, or at least an easier day - so I chose Beinn Bharrain with the plan of taking up the FT-857 and trying some 2m SSB. That said, Beinn Bharrain is still a fairly big granite-topped mountain on Arran, and after two big days previously, I was definitely feeling it!
Scottish Clag, the FT-857 and a bag of biltong in action
At the summit, I set up the 2m Yagi, fired up the 857, and started beaming north. To my surprise, once I actually stopped being an idiot, looked at the band plan and got onto the right frequency, I was immediately greeted by @GM4OAS Gordon in mallaig with a beautiful 59 signal - what a start! That was quickly followed by two operators in Stornoway. Incredible results !
Beaming north, weather not so good today
Even more impressive was a contact with the prolific @GM7PKT in Fort William, despite all the mountains between us - amazing probally aided by some aircraft scatter. To top it off, I managed to work Don @GW0PLP in Cardigan Bay, around 250 miles away. Just shows how fantastic 2m SSB can be!
Only 400km to @GW0PLP, what a result
I did put up HF after that, but the bands weren’t in great shape and I soon lost interest.
Huge thanks to @MM0EFI for the Yagi link and suggestion, and to IZ2UUF for the antenna design. Top bit of kit, simple to build, quick to deploy, and clearly gets great results! I’ll be uploading some 3D-printed parts to Printables soon to support the design.
Beinn Tarsuinn GM/SI-008 Final Corbett on Arran!
Beinn Tarsuinn was the final Corbett on Arran that I hadn’t yet bagged, so it was a must-do for my last day on the island.
Cir Mor and the witches step on the Beinn Tarsuinn ascent
The approach through Glen Rosa quickly pulls you into what feels like the heart of Arran, you can see the sea in multiple directions, which makes it all the more magical. For this activation, I decided to go light and only bring 2m gear, and it absolutely delivered: over 20 contacts in the log, including an incredible summit-to-summit with @GM0GAV Gavin way up in the far north of Scotland on Beinn Damh GM/WS-111, in the Torridon area! Beaming north on 2m really paid off again - the Yagi has been performing brilliantly.
2M Journey to Beinn Damh
Another highlight was yet another S2S with Archie on GM/SS-120 who, this year, really is proving to be a top bit of S2S kit! Managed to get a summit-to-summit with him on all six of my peaks during this trip. Brilliant to work him.
Clouds swirling over the summit today
More granite playgrounds
A special shout out to Jack @GM4COX who’s been chasing me on 2m throughout the past few days. Really pleased to get him a complete on Beinn Tarsuinn, especially fitting since he was the first person to activate it, 14 years ago!
waterfall on descent
A fantastic wee SOTA island, which i would recommend to anyone !
If anyone could tell me what this is an why it is in Glen Rosa !
