I notice that the summit GM/NS-155, Creag an Amalaidh, has only been activated once. Distance and altitude do not appear to be a problem. Other hills not far away have been done several times so M6BWA and I would be grateful if one of the people who have decided against would share their reasons. If comments are deemed unsuitable for a public forum I would be even more grateful for a PM explaining the problem.
73,
Rod
Edit
Recent posts on Hillbagging - my usual source - do not appear too daunting.
It’s all a bit overgrown ISTR. Not impossible. It’s always down as a stop gap/bonus summit for me when I get up that way. I don’t think it’s particularly difficult.
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Like Andy MM0FMF, I have it down as a summit to do in passing on my way North to vist family. Walkhighlands has some reports on routes up it.
I just haven’t got around to it yet.
Based on my activations of Struie hill GM/NS-138 nearby there might not be much or any 2m/70cm activity, although Viki is pretty good at getting people out on those bands !
Andy
MM7MOX
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This is a fairly newish SOTA summit in the area and hence the likely reason why this has had only 1 SOTA activation whereas the others in the area have had several SOTA activations. I am sure that the GM Association Manager Andy @MM0FMF will be able to confirm that the above SOTA summit has only been a valid SOTA summit in recent years.
Jimmy M0HGY
Yes it is newish but the real issue is ain’t nobody lives up there! Seriously it’s an area of very low population density and thus low ham population density. There are few hams interested in SOTA in the area. Adrian MM0DHY lives in the Inverness area, Andrew GM0UDL lives on the Black Isle and I can’t think of any others active in SOTA who live there.
The issue for people visiting the area is bang per buck. It costs money to stay in B&B/hotels, it costs money for fuel so most people want to maximise points / famous summits when they get to the area. And what an area to visit. There’s lots of interesting summits near the coast. Or you can go inland for big summits like Beinn Dearg etc. But then you find much more big stuff on the West coast. Or you can visit the hills in the Flow Country like the Griams. Or Ben Hope and her outliers like Ben Loyal et al. Or out NW for Foinaven and Arkel and Ben Stack.
So as I said, once you factor in the lack of local activators, the cost of getting there for most people, then the attraction of famous summits, Creag an Alamaidh becomes a backup summit for collecting when passing by or if you only have 1/3 of day of good weather.
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Hi Rod,
Nic and I were going to do this one in 2022, but gave it a miss as we went for the 2-pointer GM/NS-087 just up the road instead. I seem to remember that the main issue was going to be finding somewhere reasonable to park our long-wheelbase van on/near the start of the hike, on the A9 road.
Good luck 
73, Simon
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There is a long layby on the A9 just a short walk past the road end for this hill, on approach to the Mound.
Andy
MM7MOX
Ah, good point Andy. Ignore my earlier comment then 
Well it was a few years ago, so maybe there was another reason we didn’t stop. We did drive past it, but maybe we skipped it as it had already been activated at that point. I know when we first planned heading to Orkney, this summit hadn’t been activated (there were about 3 unactivated at the time in this NS area) and looked like an option on the way up or way back home, but I guess the lure of an easy 2-pointer won.
73, Simon
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Interestingly GM/NS-087 is on my list to do in May this year when visiting my Mum.
Keep an eye out for the alert and grab a complete.
Andy
MM7MOX
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Here’s the long-wheelbase motor home friendly carpark
Here’s the view to the hill from the carpark
Here’s the map showing where stuff is.
Red cross is car park, purple cross is the entrance drive to Cabusmore Lodge. This is a bit overgrown but keeps you away from the lodge itself. ISTR last August when I was there, the lodge was up for sale. And checking today it still is!
That site has a great picture showing some of the less well mapped tracks and the hill itself. If I only had £0.9 million and another £250k to renovate the place I could have my own private SOTA summit 
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Thank you all for the very helpful replies to my question. Extra thanks to Andy, MM0FMF, for the details for parking, access and the sales particulars which have wasted a great deal of time that might have been employed planning walks up other hills. I have a feeling we will be joining the long list of those who drive past in expectation of finding a nicer hill to ascend 
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If you drive past and get as far as Brora, make sure to stop at Capaldi’s for ice-cream, it’s the best.
Andy
MM7MOX
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