Motivation
This article describes an activation done in August the 10th 2022. I didn’t have access to a computer on holidays, and it’s a new summit for me, so I add this report now to record the access description and details.
When doing the activation of Mt. Cellorigo EA1/LR-049 some days before, I saw another mountain located further Northeast that I should visit in the next chance.
That one was Mt. La Muela, EA1/LR-048. To my surprise, I noticed there is another much higher mountain with the same name in the Association, EA1/LR-017.
To avoid confusion, while searching for a GPS track, I knew that my target mountain is called Zarata Peak by local people.
La Muela can be translated as “molar” and when you see the shape of this mountain you understand the reason for its name:
The hike
- Trail length (one way) : about 1,3 km
- Elevation gain: 185 m.
- Mountain elevation: 924 m a.s.l.
- Walking time: 35 minutes
I approached the mountain from the near village of Cellorigo.
The path starts on a gravel road located near the ruins of an old hermitage. More about this at the end of the report.
The climb is short and nice, it follows a clear path passing by several different landscapes: a wide dirt road first, a charming forest in the middle and ends with a short but very steep section while approaching the rocky peak of the summit. A funny end for a lovely walk.
Definitely a good place to visit with a comfortable shade for most part of the path and a summit with nice views over the surrounding fields.
Here some pictures taken during the ascent in the final and steep part
Up we go:
Looking back:
Summit:
Mountain mailbox and Cellorigo peaks EA1/LR-049 in the background.
The mountain name and height is engraved in the mountain mailbox, along with a motivational phrase: “passion for the mountain”.
The activation
Despite the summit is restricted with a deep fall sideways, there is enough space in the activation zone to deploy my full size 20m long EFHW, inverted vee. Just take some precautions while walking on top stretching out the wire over the surrounding bushes.
My gear today was the KX3, 3 x 21700 LiIon cell.
I tried VHF first while installing the HF aerial. As usual, Fernando EA1AAP was ready on VHF and I logged him.
I started on HF, and soon had to do a pause as I saw a few drops on the KX3 top display. I raised my view and found some dark clouds near the summit and I felt worried. I jumped to grab the rucksack rain cover and put it over the gear while looking for a more protective area.
I moved beneath a big rock that provided some side cover and as the gust calmed down I decided to go on with the activation. I tied the antenna feeder to a bush and was lucky that in the end it did not rain although the alternative place I choose was a bit restricted and less comfortable.
Today I did a long activation for about three hour that produced a bulky log of 90 qso and got 28 S2S. Lots of fun moving up and down the bands to get these S2S with many activator friends. After a few closing calls in VHF I logged EA2AQ and called it a day.
A final look at the landscape revealed my next SOTA target for the coming days: Mt. Peñalrayo EA1/LR-047:
Historical tip of the day
The path starts near the ruins of an old hermitage: Saint Mary of Barrio.
The hermitage was originally built by Mozarabs, who lived under Muslim rule, but later, the current hermitage was developed during the Reconquista, a historiographical construction that describes the fall of Muslim kingdom in Spain (VIII to XV century).
The ruins that we can see today are a mix of several periods between the XII until the XVII century.
The romanesque barrel vault is still in good condition:
Thanks everybody for the qso.
73 de Ignacio
It was interesting to read the historical details of this area too, very enlightening for me. Tell me, what’s the story of the mail box. I have read many activation reports by others and quite a few have had photos of mail boxes included in their reports as well. Interested in the details of them.
