Sunday November 18 2007. First ski outing this season. Need to find an easy summit. Montagne de Sulens 1839 m is recommended for the beginners and the slopes do not look very dangerous from West. They are steep on East side however. I do not find parking place from the village le Mont and I finally park the car at Bois de Mont Derrier. Two other skiers are there already and ask me if I have done this course before. I spend ten minutes starting the APRS tracker, but it does not want to key the radio. The mountain is not the best place for this kind of bricolage, so I let it be. I follow the route given by the skirando web page. There is 10 - 20 cm of fresh powder snow with hay below it. There are quite a few walkers and skiers on the way. At 1100 UTC I find F5TIL/P from 10117 kHz working on F/AB-469. Then Roy G4SSH replies on 10116 kHz. Thanks for spotting. Other countries DL and 2E. I try to call CQ on 7031.8 kHz between the contest operators. Then I check 3561 kHz and 14060 kHz. I can hear the regular beeps from my ARVA transceiver though (about 460 kHz). QRT 1130 UTC.
http://skirando.camptocamp.com/outing23224.html
Radio: FT817ND, 2.5 W cw, loop 12 x 2 m, T1 ATU
Map: IGN 3531OT
Photos: http://sral.fi/oh7bf/Sulens