I’ve just got home from Binnein Shuas GM/WS-198. First of all sorry I missed the s2s Ricky, I didn’t get qrv at the summit until about 1530 I think.
Also, I couldn’t stay too long as my non-ham climbing partner was quite keen to get off the hill as it was pretty nippy up there today. It was his fault I was late on the summit, he insisted we had bacon rolls in Aviemore, who was I to argue? Although I struggled to keep up with him on the way in, see previously mentioned bacon roll.
We left the car at around 1000, cycled up to a bridge, hid the bikes and hiked up to the base of the Ardverikie Wall rock climb. I think we started climbing at 1200 and reached the top 180 metres later at about 1500. So not very fast today but about 30 mins per pitch is maybe about right.
It was cold between pitches changing over the lead, and the rock felt quite unusual, cold and clammy. Pitch 5 had water running down it, my lead as it happened, lovely.
Thanks for the calls I managed, sorry about the cw. I had the speed too high and the fingers weren’t playing ball, although the mind wasn’t either. It took me 3 attempts to realise Miroslav was offering to spot me, doh.
The wx was hazy all day, light breeze and about 4c.
DXCC today on 40:
DL, G, GI, GM, HB (20 qsos)
DXCC today on 20:
DL, EA, HB, OE, OH, OK, OM, S5, SM, W (15 qsos)
I was delighted to receive a call for a s2s from HB9BQU/P Hans who was activating HB/AI-010.
I returned home with one more piece of gear than I went with too, which is always a bonus.
The descent from the summit was tricky but safely negotiated alone; Gaz had gone down to sort out the gear, although I did notice he left 2x50m climbing ropes for me to cart down. I met him at the bottom and we left the hill, first on foot, then on bikes after retrieving them from the hiding place. It took 40 minutes to return to the car.
What I learnt from my first combined rock climb/sota activation - get a shorter fishing pole.
73,
Ian, MM0GYX