This activation was done last summer but I didn’t have written a report yet.
I write it now in order to add a useful info in the Summits web area.
Motivation
I had already visited and activated several times in the past some of the highest mountains of EA1/LR association. Many of them are concentrated in a close area, and there was one left there which I had never visited before; Mt. Pancrudo, EA1/LR-006.
This summer I decided to activate it taking the chance of being not far from it.
- Activation date: 23 august 2019.
Driving directions
The nearest village is Ezcaray.
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Exit the village heading South, towards Zaldierna (road LR -415).
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2,5 km after leaving Ezcaray, turn left towards the sky resort called Valdezcaray and continue for 13 km (road LR-416).
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When reaching the sky resort you can still drive on the road LR-416 that degrades from that point changing into a dirt road. (The sky resort is closed in summer time).
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You need to get on 8 km this track (for about 20 minutes) and park on a plateau called Col of Tres Cruces, at 1960 m a.s.l.
Climb
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Trail is 6,4 kilometers long (one way).
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Height gain: - 170 m decrease first, then + 250 m gain.
From the parking place you can easily go up Mt. San Lorenzo EA1/LR-001, but this is not my destination today… Instead, I kept on walking following the same dirt road that goes around Mt. San Lorenzo.
The walk starts going down for about 4 km. Once you reach the col of Artaza (1830 m a.s.l.) you have to leave the dirt road and start going up towards Pancrudo EA1/LR-006, following the ridge on a very easy hike marked as a dotted line in this picture:
When approaching Mt. Pancrudo I could see it is composed of 4 summits in a row of similar height, being the very summit the most western:
Here you can see what I had walked down and up from the parking place as seen close to reaching the summit (yellow lines added):
After 1h 20 minutes walking I arrived in the summit of Pancrudo:
After eating some healthy nuts and dates I was ready to start installing my antenna.
Activation
- Equipment: TRX Mountain Topper MTR-3B. EFHW antenna and carbon pole 5 m long.
I used 3 brand new Li-Ion 18650 batteries rated at 2600 mAh. They are light and more than enough to power my MTR.
I installed the aerial inverted vee.
There was no wind and the day was bright. In order to protect me from sunburn I had brought with me a car windscreen cover. It is extremely lightweight and I thought that would be an easy way to ensure sun protection for the next hours.
I hold it to a stick in the summit next to the antenna feedpoint:
All done! I sat next to the radio and was ready to fire up the rig and start the action:
Activation went well.
I ran HF on 10 and 14 MHz, logging 38 qso, including S2S with OM1BD/P (hey, nice suffix!!), OE5EEP/P, DL2DXA/P on a GMA summit, F/HB9IIO, HB9EVF/P and DL/F5HTR. A lot of SOTA trotters today.
I was concerned about the time I would need to get back to the car and the drive back home so I decided to go QRT after 1h 15 minutes running on HF.
While dismantling the antenna I switched on my trusty VHF handheld Kenwood TH-F7, and to my surprise I found EB2GKK/P, Iñaki, activating from EA2/VI-003, 92 km away. I logged the S2S running just 5 watt and the ¼ whip aerial with an excellent signal report both ways.
Soon after our qso we got the call from Alberto, EA2DYS/P, activating further away from EA2/NV-003, at 178 kilometer far apart, wow, such a joy a meet them both so loud!
I recorded a video to send them the movie later on and after checking nothing else was left on the summit I got back to the car.
Goodbye Mt. Pancrudo, a nice place to visit in summer!
73 de Ignacio