We (with M0JLA on HF) travel up to the Malham/Skipton area on Monday (or the day before IF the weather relented…) for 4 nights and had hoped to acivate some summits (and the Settle-Carlisle lane - on the list a long time) while there. This was booked long before the weather turned so windy/wet and I ricked the ankle again (doh!). Hence our activities are likely to be restricted BUT I want/need to chase a lot of hills in the area as I only work from summits so every chase has to be a s2s (on 2m or 70cm fm) and I am woefully short of completes (314 with 500+ uniques activated). Is anyone else likely to be available to go up hills in the NP/SP area during next week?? If so, perhaps we can try and co-ordinate timings (and hills please)!
Looking at my stats I need to chase G/NP- 001, 02, 07, 12, 14, 15, 16, 19, 20, 23, 24, 25, 28, 32. and also a host of SP. anyone feel like a trip up Rombalds Moor. or any of them?? The logistics are complicated in that I don’t drive which cuts down the choices when setting up our own s2s but we are thinking of me on Sharp Haw G/NP-029 (easy and near) while M0JLA is on Cracoe Fell (G/NP-032) so, if successful, that is one more. My efforts at combining Great Knoutberry and Dodd Fell (with a possibility of swapping summits (??)) are more challenging! Any offers to go up any relevant hills - or general adivce (is there snow around - or will there be by then? It looks as if it is due in South Wales any day now.) Also -CHASERS please I will need your help too as I would like to get 4 2m AND 70cm contacts from any hill we manage to conquer. Tx
73 Viki M6BWA
I live in walking distance of Rombalds Moor G/NP-028 so I might be able to get up there but it all depends! I work Monday - Wednesday and I can’t say at the moment when I might be available after that. I will be up something at some point at the end of next week though.
I was on Great Whernside G/NP-008 on Sunday and there was some snow on the summit but nothing to impede walking. There is a little snow forecast for later in the week but I don’t think it will affect much, other than the higher summits. I wouldn’t go up Dodd Fell Hill G/NP-016 at the moment though as I imagine it will be incredibly wet. I went up in December and it was non-stop bog, even at my activation point. I am waiting till the summer to do that one again!
G/NP-025 is no longer a valid SOTA summit. Replaced by G/NP-032.
I live on the edge of NP, bordering SP. Not sure how I can help. Monday’s are usually free but my son is going on his first driving lesson with a new instructor and I’d like to be there for support during the ‘handover’.
Wednesday I’ll be dropping my son off in Kendal in the morning and if the weather is OK, I’ll probably head up a hill in/near the Lake District. I might be able to offer an S2S from there.
I’ll keep an eye on your alerts and see if I can help out with an S2S.
Hope that you have a great time WX/ankle permitting.
This is just the excuse I needed to get out. At the moment it is wet but not snowy, and the ground conditions are rather muddy…(QTH is 1000ft ASL with a view onto Mickle Fell - no snow currently) . Looking at the list of hills you are after NP-007 Wild Boar is one of my favourite and (depending on fitness) is probably only about 2.5 hrs from the shack to the summit for me. It is also a relatively easy and dry ish walk with a path rather than a stream. ( It might also work as a double S2S with Nine Standards Rigg if the walker doing Wild Boar was a bit slower than the Nine Standards one! ). Another good one (for me) would be Rogans Seat NP-014 although as it is a bit of a flat summit I don’t think it would be brilliant on 2 and worse on 70. Again the access is good along a track rather than a swamp. Great Knoutberry NP-015 is is quite a short walk from the road and is only a bit boggy. Yarlside NP-019 is a slog up from the road but is relatively easy - all be it with little in the way of a path. I did Hoove NP-024 last week - short and wet would be the best description. The hills I have neglected to mention are all perfectly do-able (With the exception of Mickle Fell NP-002 which requires a permit for access), but are rather muddy and wet. Other doubles to consider for S2S with one car would be Nine Standards (Muddy) with Wild Boar Fell, Kisdon ( Rod might have to do that one as it is difficult to qualify on uhf / vhf ) with Rogans Seat, and the combination of The Calf and Yarlside.
Next Week I have Monday Afternoon (4th March), Tuesday & Wednesday (5/6th March) and Friday (8th March) if that helps you gat any S2S. and it gives me a good excuse to play radio - although it will be combined with long dog walks! Rombalds Moor is the only NP summit that I have not activated so that is also a possibility although that one is much more about driving than walking from here.
Quite a lot of snow on top and very cold, especially with the wind-chill. Having said that, once we were off the top and down in the valley, it was hot enough to take our coats off in the sunshine…
Good luck with your activations - I’ll be able to chase from home on 2m/70cm FM/SSB, but we won’t be activating that week as we have other commitments.
Hi Viki,
I plan to be out down the borders on Monday weather permitting, so hopefully will manage s2s but it might only be 2m at that distance. I’ve still only got the rubber duck for 70cm on the Yaesu rather than the flowerpot I have for 2m.
Andy
MM7MOX
Got out and up Nine Standards Rigg (G/NP-018) today. No Snow - but there is some in the forecast. It was wet and windy - but I still had dry feet at the end of the activation and it wasn’t so windy that I couldn’t get a shelter up, so hopefully promising for next week. It wasn’t a hill on Vicky’s list which I can save for next week. I now have Monday Afternoon, Wednesday and Friday. 73. Paul
What a difference a week or two makes. Now confirmed that we are bringing snow up with us (great problem for me - too bright for my eyes) so will have to reconsider tentative plans. It seems if Sunday may be good so we have ADDED late Sat (Mar 2) and Sun (Mar 3) and will be based near Clitheroe from Mar 2 - 4 in G/SP-land where I still have SP-008*, 010 and 011 to chase (from another summit). The SP-008* is because I have made strenuouis efforts locally to chase G4TGJ on that summit in the last week. On Sat he cancelled his alert just as we left the QTH to go up a ‘suitable hill’ and yesterday I sat on GW/SW-011 (Sugar Loaf) for 60mins after he started on cw hoping he would QSY and hear me - but it was not to be (he was totally unaware of my presence so not to be blamed - and it was a long distance…)
NEW PLANS On Saturday we drive up from Hereford and rain/snow permitting in mid afternoon M0JLA goes up G/SP-011 while I ascend G/SP-009 and I gain another complete. It seems as if SP-008 ;is a more serious ascent of 2+ hrs so not feasible with one car in cold weather (ditto Winter Hill 010 as no other close summit) so those are still very much WANTED!
Looking at my stats I need to chase G/NP- 001, 02, 07, 12, 14, 15, 16, 19, 20, 23, 24, 25, 28, 32.
What we do on Sunday depends on snow/weather and if anyone is (by chance or otherwise0) able to help us me in my complete hunt by going up anything on the NP list above or SP-008, 010? It is a Sunday so likely to be a more feasible day and the forecast so far is good - any takers??. Our problem will then to find something not too high (Easington/Longridge??) and hope to get contacts. Whatever happens, thank you for reading this and I hope to hear from some of you during the next week whether from the shack or a summit. Will post alerts when we can. Monday is pencilled in as NP-029 and 032 but time will tell.
73 Viki M6BWA.
Tx Paul for your reply. A chase to you on either (or both!) of NP-007 and 014 sounds wonderful - especially the latter probably as it is visited much less often (but I have wanderful memories of golden plovers up there and on Watery Hill (?) its nearby top) but Wild Boar Fell is probably the safer bet.
Still thinking about Dodd Fell and Gt Knoutberry later in the week (but not swapping summits as too distant with one car. Will be in touch. Tx
Viki
That sounds good new Richard. I hope we can meet up. As you may see from message 8 I have desperately been trying to catch you on SP-008 but stupidly didn’t let you know! (and it probably wouldn’t have worked!). Hope we have better luck with a shorter distance. How long did the walk take and from where? You did well to beat the snow.
Tx for the reminder on 025 - I did wonder why Cracoe was NP-032. Here’s hoping. It looks as if Mon and Wed may be walking days with perhaps a train on Tuesday but weather and feet will decide!
73 Viki
Tx for the reply Colin. Hope the driving lesson goes well. I have a long list of wants for LD, as you might imagine, which is mainly the lower summits. Herewith a quick list of the lower ‘wants’ LD-38, 46, 47, 48, 51, 53, 56, 57 but i know many of these are not near Kendal. However i would like to chase 046 Lambrigg Fell but realise it might not be your most favourite. Hearing from you from anywhere would be great.
Tx Viki
If I’d known I would have put the slim jim up for 2m first and listened for you. I think we would have struggled though as there’s probably too much in the way for two 2-pointers to connect over that distance.
Yesterday I parked at the Wycoller Atom Panopticon car park and it was about 2 hours to the summit. I normally park by the Coldwell Reservoirs which has a shorter walk in.
It was raining here today with snow forecast on higher ground. I’ve just been out and can see that Cracoe Fell G/NP-032 has no snow on it. I couldn’t see further up Wharfedale due to low cloud so don’t know what Great Whernside G/NP-008 is like. The weather will be similar tomorrow. I don’t think you’ll have too much snow to worry about.
Thank you very much for the snow report Richard. That is a great relief.
As you said previouslty it would have taken a lot of luck to get the s2s yesterday but it was stupid of me not to try and warn you that I was looking out for you and hoping to make a contact. We had decided that the Sugar Loaf was the only feasible hill with the current forecast so it was a bonus when I spotted your alert and the only consequence was that I stayed a bit longer than I might otherwise have done, However I thus managed to get 4 s2s in the process incluing G0WPO on both Stiperstones, his second Shropshire hill and Pole Bank, his third - and 2nd MG - as we walked off the summit so the wait was not in vain and we enjoyed the lovely biews as we walked back to the car. Here’s hoping we will be as lucky as we head further north.
73 Viki
(M6BWA) We started in snow in Hereford (a rare occurrence) and then were rained on for most of the journey until almost Bacup. I went up the aptly named Hailstorm Hill G/SP-009 - where I was hailed on lightly before getting off the tarmac on the mast road and then more enthusiastically on the way down at almost the same spot. A few bursts of rain on the way down but not nearly as wet as I’d expected and only a light snow covering. Meanwhile Rod M0JLA was drier (no hail!) on Freehold’s Top G/SP-011 but with more lying snow. The s2s went smoothly on 2m and 70cm and I qualified on both bands but Rod only managed 2 contacts as his 2 V X7 batteries quickly expired on him - not sure why as they had recently been charged and he wasn’t carry HF as it was a light (and rather late) activation. Many thanks to the locals who answered my first calls but I did try a few times for more takers but the bands were silent - perhaps Saturday at 1645 isn’t the best time to look for contacts!
We are currently undecided about what to do tomorrow - probably the best day of our 6 night stay but we are based near Clitheroe and don’t know the road and snow conditions north of Skipton. We may decide to visit one or both of the local 1 pointers Longridge and Easington Fell SP-014 or drive up to Skipton and I will try to get some contacts from the lowly Sharp Haw G/NP-029 whilst M0JLA sees whether Cracoe Fell G/NP-032 (a 2 pointer despite its high number) is safe to ascend in the prevailing snow conditions. Any advice welcomed and we will alert as soon as we have decided in the morning. It looks as if the snow is likely to linger for the rest of the stay which is a rather mixed blessing because of my eyesight problems (and the ankle) but the area should be looking very pretty, I hope.Thanks for the help today.
73 Viki
There is no snow here in Threshfield, approx. 10 miles north of Skipton and 2 miles from Cracoe Fell G/NP-032. Just lots of rain with a bit of sleet over the last few days. If you approach Sharp Haw G/NP-029 from the aptly named Bog Lane then I’m sure it will live up to it’s name.
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