Well probably… I don’t like driving much on New Year’s Eve… too many excited drivers and possible drunks about.
Cold today, I did some shopping at 915Z and I had to dig the car out of an iceberg, it said -2.5C and felt like it but almost no wind. Blue skies and bright sun. Not warm.
OK so shopping done, changed to walking clothes and back out. On the way I realised I’d put the radio, freshly charged battery in the bag and topped up the water bottle. But no log paper. I detoured by an ASDA and picked up a cheap notebook and filled the car, diesel is 5p/L cheaper here than at home.
Everyone was out and I had to park in the emergency overflow car park which means a horrific 3mins futher walk. Up the hill, ground frozen apart from top 5mm which was soft. Frost everywhere and a bit more wind. I was slow today but I stopped and chatted to two groups of people but it was 1hr elapsed to the summit approx. Too much Turkey!
Usual gear set up out of the stronger breeze which was proper Baltic. I timed myself: from undoing bag straps, having a comfort break (getting old now), setting up station and pressing MSG 1 on the KX2 was 12m40s. Bands were 15m and 30m CW only today. 15 QSO on 15m including W4GO, WF4I, KB4LCI who all had some kind of SP/LP echo or multipath. Second time in a week TF3DC has called me, it’s nice to be called by sort-of DX stations. 24 QSOs on 30m CW. Propagation was weird as Don GW0PLP was loud at 599 and Roger MW0IDX at only 300km was also 599, very short skip for 30m.
After an hour it was getting very cold and dark as the sun was now behind Scald Law’s bulk. I had my instep crampons as I know there are so many boots on the path that it gets polished when icy but I didn’t need them. Well the top 5mm which was squishy 1h30 early was harder than concrete, I took it slow coming down. Back at the car it was saying -2C so probably -3 to -4C when I started the descent, colder with the now much stronger wind’s windchill.
Looking North
Looking South
Looking WSW, 1hr after max sun elevation… it doesn’t get high in the sky at this time of year.
Last rays of sunlight on the hard frozen ground and Gorse about 15mins from the car. Moon was brilliant.
There’s always some Gorse in bloom, here we are, darkest days and middle of Winter and there’s a chance of an arty photo of the Gorse blossom!
As I age it is getting hard to spend a long time in the cold operating. I will have to become more selective. I understand the points Andy @G8CPZ has made many times about the cold now, he’s older than me.
HNY 2026
