Both activators and chasers need to make a bit more of an effort if they want/need more/further/better contacts. As an activator, I regularly get really good results operating with HH and RD. But if I want even more, I use the 817, a beam, mixture of modes (FM, C4FM, CW, SSB, FT8) and/or operate during contests.
As a chaser, I don’t do particularly well from the home QTH. When I was much keener on SOTA chasing back in the early days, that “bit more of an effort” was driving up to a local high point for some /M operating. Nowadays, I’m more likely to actually head for a summit if there’s activations I’m keen to chase, and try to get them S2S.
A VHF handie is such an obvious and natural option for a hillwalking amateur, so they’ll always be these kind of activations.