Several reasons. Firstly, a summit in the Himalaya might be high enough to require oxygen to be carried by the climber, and take several days to climb, but it may only have a prominence of a few hundred metres. Secondly, there is the anomaly that the highest summit in a landmass will have its prominence equal its height ASL but its neighbours that may only be a few tens of metres lower may have prominences of just a few hundreds of metres. Finally, this claimed significant correlation has yet to be established - we just donāt have the numbers.
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This thread seems to have deviated away from my original question.
Iām not sure how rules etc are reviewed, but if there is an AGM / committee meetings etc, Iād like to propose a discussion on an ammendment to the once yearly activation limit.
Colm.
āSOTA is not a club with elections, it is a benevolent dictatorship running an award scheme as defined by its originators. The MT can make minor adjustments where essential (the summer bonus is not part of the original scheme) but the basic parameters are set in stone.ā
From a post above - there is your answer.
73,
Rod
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I donāt. Unless all one cares about are the 10 points, that would defeat the purpose of walking to the summit
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It would be novel for me. Most of my local 10 pointers involve 20+ mile hikes. Anyway you missed my point.
Set your own challenges
For some folk, in some countries, that may mean driving onto a 10 point summit.
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Precisely !!
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Thanks for this thread. It has passed an entertaining few minutes while I wait for my wife to do some shopping.
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Fraser, i agreed [totally] with your earlier sentence but the ādreamā one was definitely contestable / ambiguous.
Re personal goals, Iām watching the on-summit forecast for a 10-pointer (Scafell Pike, G/LD-001) hopefully for this Thursday [if forecast doesnāt worsen: 20% CoP, 5C Feels like temp]. Itās a long slog by any route and a personal challenge (now Iām the wrong side of 70) but I hope Iām nearly as fit as last time I activated it and nearby Scafell (a WOTA), two years ago.
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Hi Andy,
(OFF TOPIC)
I am also watching the weather, even though my planned 8-pointer for Thursday (DL/AM-031) is far easier than yours, itās one you donāt want to be on the top of if a storm comes through! Do you have an idea of time, bands and mode(s) if you do plan to head out - perhaps we can try for an G8-G8 S2S?
73 Ed DD5LP(G8GLM).
Yes.
The average ascent time for me for all the 8 and 10 pointers Iāve done is significantly greater than the average ascent time for all the 1 and 2 pointers Iāve done. The average prominence of all the 8 and 10 pointers Iāve done is greater than that if all the 1 and 2 pointers Iāve done.
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(OFF TOPIC)
Ed, Iām bound to disappoint you - itās going to be only 2m FM for 3 reasons:
- Need to minimize my away-from-home time for personal reasons. Itās going to be nearly 11 hours as it is. i anticipate a lot of 2m FM chasers which will eat up my allotted on-summit time,
- At my age I cool down very quickly in low ambient temperatures regardless of the number of layers I wear, and
- Need to minimize rucksack weight.
regards, Andy
Which might be slightly influenced by the relatively quick ascent of your personal SOTA summit 
. TW-001 takes me close to an hour, so my averages may vary from yours.
Good old statistics!
I think the answer has been given before though to this thread. The rules for SOTA need to be applicable across a wide variety of terrains. They should encourage participation and maintain the originatorsā ethos. (The stats for participation provide a measure for success there). Itās not all about the points, it is about personal goals and achievements.
Understood - no worries!
73 Ed.
I don t like rules to be changed during the game. And game never stops.
If one don t like SOTA rules establish your own SOTA ( something on the air).
I don t do SOTA now but maybe I will in the future
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Andy, Iāve just changed my scheduled day off from Wednesday to Saturday due to the improved weather forecast. I think Mo and I will have a lightweight backpacking trip to the bottom of Cairn Toul GM/ES-003 on Friday night. At 1291m, itās one of the higher ones. On Saturday weāll climb it along with Angels Peak and Devils point, two non-SOTA Munros that Iāve never set foot on. So, thatās my (our) personal challenge for this week!
Hope you enjoy some decent wx on Scafell.
Wowā¦ 74 comments in 16 mins (at the time of writing this).
Colmās query (which btw, I think is a reasonable one to make) seems to have stirred up the emotions of many which may be taken as a gauge on how some will āprotectā the current set up. Donāt get me wrong, Iām not seeking any changes because I have come to terms with SOTA in itās present form even if bits of it are a bit nuts. (nb: you only need a read of what the āyouthfulā OARC are saying on their platform about SOTA after their recent SOTA day).
Oddly enough, I asked myself the same question as Colm did a few weeks back, when I did the āhow many years will it take me to become a MGā whilst I placed an order for my 100 chaser points certificate. It really rose to the surface when I was faced with this last week:
There is no denying that for some Activators, fuel prices will have an impact on deciding whether to venture out or not. For me, my closest summit is a 32mile round trip so thatās Ā£7.23 petrol money (about a pint of beer in London! ) and my furthest is an 95mile trip which is about Ā£21.25 (yesā¦ about three beers in London)
FWIW, Iāve only been doing SOTA since last Sep and have resisted my motive becoming one of getting points as getting out; walking up a hill and playing radio is far more rewarding that getting the single point which is predominantly the case here in Somerset. Itās only human, to also seek the accolade of MG with a fanfare (as recently bestowed on some) and I wish well to all those that set that as their target but should it really be the motive? Or am I saying that as I am unlikely to attain it?
(As a side note, at present I have 26 Activator points, 363 Chaser points & 73 s2s points and at this rate it would take me over 38yrs to achieve MG status i.e. very unlikely in my lifetime! )
So, my bottom line,
Do I care that I wonāt get a point the next time I visit Beacon Batch - No
Has the price of petrol stopped me from notching up another unique in Somerset - Yes,
Has the price of petrol stopped me from wanting to activate more uniques - No
Will I be attempting some more uniques during my next trip to Italy - Yes
ā¦ and all the above hasnāt even touched on our collective carbon footprint & potential impact on the environment!
73, Lea
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Itās certainly stopped me going further afield to seek out new Munros, Corbetts and therefore SOTA uniques.
Instead I will concentrate on repeats of more local peaks, via new routes, or using a different mode or band for the activation, just to keep things fresh.
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Before I spiffed my Jeep up with a lift etc., I drove it up W6/ND-001, activated it and camped the night.
Itās around 11,500 ft high and the drive was quite the adventure.
I believe Pykes Peak in CO is a drive up at something like 14,000 ft.
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Re a Munroā¦ am I the only person that has made a link between a Marilyn and a Munro and a certain actress?
ā¦ and before any one gets twitchy about the spelling:
73, Lea.
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Tried to create and login but got nowhere, would you like to post a link that we can read, donāt need to respond to what has been said?
EDIT: I think Iām on the discourse server. Canāt find any SOTA comments.
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