I think you also have another new one to activate as well Gerald which is White Hill GM/SS-289 if it’s still your intention to activate all GM SOTA summits south of Glasgow/Edinburgh (excluding those SOTA summits on the Kintyre peninsula). I think Andy MM0FMF still has these SOTA summits to activate as well to him to activate all GM SOTA summits south of Glasgow/Edinburgh (excluding those SOTA summits on the Kintyre peninsula), but I believe that he may have given up with this given the horrible ground on the summits he has left to do.
Yes. I had started trying finish them end of November 2019 but had an incident with a hole full of icy water. The issue Jimmy is they are all a 2h30 minimum drive across rubbish roads. So not only are they quite strenuous walks but they have 5hrs of driving on top. Really I want to stay nearby, drive down, bag Craiglee, stay overnight, have a nice meal and some beer, bag Lamachan the next day, drive home. That was the plan. Then we had 3 months of rubbish WX the first 3months of 2020. Then this COVID lark happened and made travel and staying away difficult. So hopefully as the WX improves and COVID subsides, I can pickup where I left off. That leaves Mulwharchar but there should be sufficient people to make a group activation (so we can all get the chase as well) viable.
What about the new two? Well Kirrierioch is a bit of a brute and again is a long drive and makes another night away worthwhile. I’d bring the big boy’s toys down and do some microwaves on a repeat SOTA on the way back to make it worthwhile. White Hill is a simple enough walk it can be snaffled on a trip to/from Englandlandshire sometime as it’s a quick divert off the motorway.
Kirrierloch will be a bit interesting to get to. For a safe bet Loch Trool → Merrick → Kirrierloch. But there are more interesting routes if there is a dry spell.
For Mullwharchar, Craiglee and Lamachan trips I slept in the van at Loch Trool carpark and got an early start. It was very quiet, I arrived about 21:30 or later and was on the move by 07:00.
Craiglee and Lamachan could be done on the same trip under ideal conditions but it would be a bit brutal and you would have to skip GM/HSS-131 - Curleywee which is a delight.
To keep on track for this post, on these summits you won’t meet anyone SOTA or otherwise. You could be lucky and meet the Mountain Goats.
Indeed, but that is a mere pimple which can be picked up en route. Actually to my mind it’s a pity that a new summit designation was required as there is very little difference between Hightown Hill and White Hill… two green hillocks on farm land accessed up a muddy track.
I actually disagree there Gerald, Hightown Hill GM/SS-273 was the first of the 3 GM SOTA summits that me and my dad Tom @M1EYP activated on our GM daytrip back in June last year and was an easy summit for us to bag also. White Hill GM/SS-289 is therefore another easy GM SOTA unique for us to bag when we either next to a daytrip a GM activating some GM SOTA uniques or on en route to wherever we will be staying if the next time we bag some unique GM SOTA summits happens to be when we will be on a SOTA holiday in GM. This is similar to when Muncaster Fell - Hooker Crag G/LD-055 was relocated to Muncaster Fell G/LD-059 as both of them had very little height difference as well, but the drop between like Hightown Hill GM/SS-273 and White Hill GM/SS-289 is about 30m so therefore out of activation zone.
Jimmy - I think Gerald’s frustration probably comes from thinking he’d “finished” a geographical area for unique SOTAs only to discover that it now contains a new hill he needs to do. A bit like what happened to us regarding LX!
That’s not correct Tom as I knew Kirriereoch was being added to the list and I hadn’t activated Mullwharchar anyway. What I am saying is that I consider it unfortunate that the change was one between two grassy knolls just some 300 metres apart. I suppose White Hill has the interest of it being a hill fort… which suggests to me that the ancient people knew it was higher!
I’ve noticed that Craig @2M0LXX recently activated Mullwarchar GM/SS-073 earlier this week and wrote a report about this here The Galloway Forest Park - Mullwarchar GM/SS-073 & Craignaw GM/SS-096 - Activation Reports - SOTA Reflector. I can see that he also managed to activate Craignaw GM/SS-096 on this very same day and on the same walk also. I have also noticed today that Craig 2M0LXX was spotted on Lamachan GM/SS-061 earlier today. I think Craig 2M0LXX would be a good contact if those wishing to bag these summits for best routes and information etc.
Or to put it another way… approx 1 in 150 activations… note my sample size should not be treated as statistically significant.
So not THAT unusual an occurrence.
As I’ve moved towards collecting unique summits as oppose to just going for points, my rate of meeting people has fallen. I’m mostly climbing less popular hills.
Funny you should mention that. Just yesterday I ran into these two characters (see link below) on Ortiz Mountain in New Mexico. Alan NM5S for those who don’t know is a multi-goat with 508 unique summits. It was quite a thrill.
A couple of years ago my brother and I were on Blood Mountain (W4G/NG-004) and we worked a station on Springer (W4G/HC-005) a few miles away. Just over an hour later we were approached by a lady walking by on the Appalachian Trail and she asked if we were doing SOTA. When we told her yes she told us her husband was on Springer doing an activation. When she told us his call we recognized that he was the one we had worked. Just felt like a small world in that moment.
My only random encounter was a “S2S” with Allen VK3ARH who was activating the same summit on the other side of the comms hut and neither of us could see the other until we handed out a summit ref and went “what?”. I also met a JA ham prior to SOTA going live there about midway between Jimbasan and Takaosan in Tokyo.
In less random encounters, I had a nice meet up with Adam @VK2YK who came up to visit me on VK5/SE-013 this weekend after working me from his home, and some nice catchups with other hams as I’ve toured the world, like Pat @WW4D on Cheaha Mountain in Alabama, Phil @ON4TA on PA/PA-002, Fukuno-san JF5VWH on JA5/KI-015, and Jason @HL4ZFA and Andrew @HL5ZBA/@ZL3AME on various HL summits.
In winter 2015 I activated The Hump, a 10 point summit on the Mount Buffalo plateau, in north east VK3. As I was coming down, I met a fellow coming up with a pack and a squid pole. ‘Have you been activating?’ he asked. It was David VK3IL. I was new to SOTA at the time and had not activated. I’m not sure if David had. Anyway it was a fairly unlikely coincidence. It’s never happened again.
It’s funny how often I suspect that people I come across on my SOTA outings are other SOTA activators – and how seldom that actually turns out to be the case. This is probably the result of living around the Los Angeles Basin with that region’s high SOTA op density.
Other than having the good fortune of meeting Alan NM5S and Gene AF9O last weekend here in New Mexico, I did see a hiker on November 15, 2020 with a suspiciously large pole attached to his pack on the way up to Saddle Peak in Malibu. This turned out to be K1BAA -Bret. We activated the summit together. Below is a shot of Bret and the crowd up there that day with Santa Catalina Island in the background.
left of the center and lower Piz Campasc HB/GR-115
HB9CRY/p ended his activation 10:04 UTC and I started 11:29 UTC. In consideration he needs some time to pack up, I had a clear view on the summit at least 10 minutes before reaching and needed also some time for set up, the gap was not more than 45 minutes. It was the first activation on this summit after 7 months and the last for the next 5 months, 3/4 hour between and 5000 h nothing before and 3600 h nothing after.
I nearly bumped into Allan GW4VPX on GW/SW-008 (Cefn Yr Ystrad) a few days ago.
I had plans to activate it but noticed when I checked the alerts the night before that Allan had beaten me to it as he had already put up an alert for the same summit.
Not wanting to cause QRM or get in the way I changed my plans & activated GW/SW-041 (Black Hill) instead, which gave the opportunity for a S2S (and more points for both of us)!
I wouldn’t worry… having done several planned activations with others there is no problem managing concurrent activations as long as you chat to each other.
March 12 couldn’t have started any worse. While packing my things for the planned activations I got the sad news of Guru’s passing. It was a sad journey to the first summit and I struggled to find anything to cheer me up.
Only on the second one, DM/BW-057, my spirits lifted, when Albert, @HB9BCK arrived at the top. I had read his alert earlier and was half expecting to meet him up there. We had a nice talk and exchanged hints for the activation. Then Albert set up his station and I left for my third summit, promising to give him a call for an S2S-QSO.
By the time I arrived at DM/BW-195 I had spoken with Andreas, @DF1AKR, on 2 metres FM. He had started his activation from the top of Zundelberg (which is actually a large, flat, wooded area).
I was about to ask him (via radio) for his exact location, when all of a sudden someone with a rucksack came out of the woods, smiling brightly. Apparently he had spotted my HT or my SOTA-hat because he was approaching me. It turned out to be Erik, LB7PC, who was doing a SOTA-tour in DM/BW. We had a friendly chat about the summits in DM/BW, his tour details and the places he already visited. Then we agreed to set up with some distance and said goodbye, promising an S2S later from the next summit.
I had just set up the station, when DF1AKR arrived with several QSOs and the activation points under his belt. As Andreas is a local, we had a long conversation about the nearby summits and also further activation plans. Finally we bade farewell, promising to stay in touch.
It’s always a pleasure to meet other activators on a summit, but meeting three activators in less than two hours is something I wouldn’t have dreamed of
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