I have just returned from the Cies Islands, a National Park in Galicia.
In one of the islands is the Alto de las Cies, EA1/PO-037. To whom it may concern, there is no path to the top or activation limit zone and it is also a protected area due to the presence of birds and access to this area is prohibited.
73 de EA4R Alf
Hi Alf,
I have added your report as a link to the summit information page, so that anyone considering an activation of EA1/PO-037 will see the information.
73 Ed.
Tnx Ed.
I went to the island prepared to activate the summit, but it’s impossible. I was able to activate the POTA reference but with very few QSOs.
73 de EA4R Alf
Hi Alf,
I’m sure there are several summits around where access is not possible for different reasons, so thanks for letting everyone here know about this one - it will avoid disappointment for others.
73 Ed.
Sometimes things like this happen. It really is a very beautiful summit surrounded by the sea.
73 de EA5INS Jon
Yes Jon, it’s a natural paradise!!
It makes sense to keep maintaining a reference that will not be able to be activated according to the rules?
Wouldn’t it be better to delete that reference?
73 de EA4R Alf
This question comes up a lot. The usual answer is that you never know if access could change in the future, however unlikely that is. So the SOTA summits list is based purely on topographical prominence (usually 150m, but sometimes 100m in some relatively flat Associations) and nothing else. If you stick to that rule there’s just no discussion on what’s in and what’s out of the list.
Also, should a reference be removed, after that is forgotten a new activator may well come along and complain that the summit, which meets prominence requirements, has been missed and this activator will have to be told it was removed as there is no practical way to access it.
So it’s better to have them in the lists with a comment when they are (currently) not available to be activated.
73 Ed.
I remember a summit in my area activated a few years ago by me. I tried again a short time ago, but on the way to the summit there was a private property with a new fence. This made it difficult to access and I returned home without activating it.
Another new summit for me that I tried to activate had suffered a fire in the area. The path to the top was covered by many burned and fallen trees, endangering the climb to the summit.
They are similar situations, I think it is better to leave the references there. Maybe one day things will change and it will be possible…
73 de EA5INS Jon
Ok Gerald and Ed.
I have already warned about this summit. It certainly doesn’t cost anything to let it in the EA1/PO directory.
I thought that by deleting references that were impossible to activate we could avoid illegal activities.
Tnx.
73 de EA4R Alfonso
