Motivation
Since February this year I couldn’t do a joint activation with Jorge, EA2LU, as I frequently used to do.
He suggested going to Mt. La Corona, a new one for both of us, that had never been activated on HF before.
Activation date: June 13th 2020.
Driving directions
Nearest village to the start of the climb is the village of Arrieta, about 49 kilometer away from Pamplona (46 minutes drive).
- Drive from Pamplona towards Gorráiz by PA-30.
- Exit right towards Aoiz (road nr. NA-150).
- Near Villaveta keep straight towards Aoiz (road nr. NA-1720).
- Just when reaching Aoiz, take the first roundabout left towards Nagore (stay on road nr. NA-1720)
- After Nagore, follow straight towards Burguete (road nr. NA-1720).
- Pay attention after the cross with Lusarreta, exit right towards Arrieta (road nr. NA-2042).
Climb
Once in Arrieta you have to take a dirt road heading East and uphill. This road could be driven with an off road car, but not a normal one, as there are several difficult points to cross with deep potholes.
- Trail is 6 kilometer long (one way).
- Total height gain is 660 meter (227 m once leaving the dirt road at mid point)
Views in the final part of the ascent were very beautiful, as we were identifying the surrounding mountains:
Mt. Lakarri EA2/NV-089
Three in a row, Mt. Jaun-Done-Jakue NV-054, Elke NV-036 and Uroa NV-085. In the far end and very pointed Elomendi NV-037 and Izaga NV-029.
We found a large group of wild horses and nice foals, that were calm and quiet as we walked near them:
The summit is flat and wide, indicated by a high geodetic vertex on a grassy soil at 1387 m a.s.l.
Here a group of very shy sheeps in the summit that arrived there after packing our gear and ready to leave:
Activation
We arrived in the summit by 08:00 utc. Weather was cloudy with a light breeze blowing. The summit had trees around but unobstructed in the center so we both separated well and installed a similar setup:
- EA2LU: TRX KX-2. Random wire + 4 ground radials plus homebrew Tuner on a 5 m pole.
- EA2BD: TRX KX-3. Random wire + 4 ground radials plus ZM-2 Tuner on a 5 m pole.
Far away EA2LU next the trig point. We use to separate a lot to avoid mutual interference.
EA2BD/P station.
Jorge ran his station on 5, 7, 14 and 28 MHz CW, logging a lot of chasers an working S2S Heinz OE5EEP/P and Juergen DL5ZG/P on a GMA summit. Before going QRT he also logged Sylvia OE5YYN/P and Stavros SV2RUJ/P, both on SSB. His log was closed with 60 qso.
Menwhile I concentrated on 7, 14 and 21 MHz SSB, and later was looking to get some S2S as well, some of them in CW; thanks Marco IU2HEE/P, Antonio EC2AG/P, Fabio IK2LEY/P, Jon EA3BV/P, Ivica 9A6CW/P, Stavros SV2RUJ/P and Sylvia OE5YYN/P. All in all I logged 37 qso.
We got down happy with a nice activation, enjoying again the nature, animals and landscape. We are so lucky to combine radio, friendship and hiking!
73 de Ignacio EA2BD
