Dear all,
In just 9 days we’ll be on Christmas eve.
In my childhood memories, back in the 1970’s, Christmas eve was a luxury special family dinner with very special delicious food cooked by my Mom after which we all used to sing Christmas songs and we, the young kids, remained awaked until very late while playing games, telling jokes and tales…
Instead of a Christmas tree, we used to have a Nativity set at home.
We did not have Santa Klaus at that time, but the 3 Magic Kings used to bring us all their gifts on January 5th evening instead.
Over the last decades, new traditions have been imported like the Christmas tree and Santa Klaus. Some other old traditions have also been restablished like the Olentzero.
In some families (like mine), we have adopted some of these newly imported traditions without forgetting the older ones, so we now have our Nativity set, our Christmas tree, we have written a letter and we expect Santa Klaus over here on Christmas eve, but we have also written a letter to the magic Kings and we expect something from them on the evening of January 5th too. We have Christmas gifts twice now. Isn’t it great?
I’ve been a good boy this year and my gift petition to Santa Klaus is for SOTA. I wonder whether any of you expect a SOTA or radio related gift this Christmas eve.
My SOTA Christmas gift arrived a few days ago and after having connected it and verified that it works perfect, it’s back packed now and well hidden out of my kid’s view awaiting its time to be placed at the Christmas tree foot…
Yes, some days ago I was waiting for an early christmas gift. A large German on-line-electronic-dealer (C***d) offerd a gift if I would make an order for 49 € or more until 8th of December. Anyway I planed to order something and so I completed the order with some other things to reach the 49 €. I used my advantage code and in the online store the gift (power bank) was shown as available. After made the order I got a confirmation mail with all the items.
In the box I got some days later the gift was missed. On the delivery note I found the remark “Artikel ist ausverkauft” (out of stock). I found also the remark “Ihr Vorteilscode wurde erfolgreich eingelöst.” (Your advantage code was successfully converted). What they are mean?
I’m waiting for an answer on my on-line-complaint since 5 days.
He Santa, do you hear me? I was a good (enough) Ham in the year and activated 22 summits. What’s the matter?
I’m so sorry Ludwig…
Around Christmas, there are so many gifts purchased online and being shipped/delivered by post couriers, etc that missing things from time to time happen.
Your story reminds me that I feared something like that when I was about to receive my LDG IT-100 gift. I got an e-mail saying that the package had been delivered by DHL, but I had not received anything. I checked the post mail and there was no paper left by DHL informing about any failed delivery attemp. After a few minutes of semi-panic, I got DHL Pamplona on the phone and they informed me that my gift was in a nearby tabac shop for me to pick up. I told them that I would go and pick it up but I also told them that I bought that item to be delivered to my home address, that I was home all that morning and nobody ever tried to deliver nor contacted me by phone to try to deliver it at my home address.
After this momentaneous panic, a 10 minutes walk to the nearby tabac shop and my gift was picked up without issues. Pfew!
That’s something I was thinking on when I was about to write my letter to Santa. I was in doubt between snowshoes and ice spikes for my boots.
Why not both?..
It was so cheap (€45) and light (350g) compared to other rucksacks I decided to take a risk on the quality and durability. I’ll report back in the new year to let you all know how it performs. If anyone is looking for a down jacket to keep them warm on the hills this winter then I would strongly recommend checking out this site on the 26th of December:
There’s usually some big reductions after Christmas.
Hi Matt,
If someone buys that rucksack via Amazon.de at €31.47 (including €6.16 import duties from the US) there’s a €5 coupon for it at the moment (GESCHENKE5E) - almost paying for the €6.17 local shipping. I was almost tempted by the bright orange one but I stopped myself as I already have several small rucksacks!
Unfortunately, they don’t ship to Austria via that link. Like I said, durability may be an issue here, I’ll post a full review in the New Year.
73 Matt
Hi matt,
Strange - they ship to Germany but not Austria? Good luck with the backpack - I was tempted. there are also some other larger (and more expensive) ones in their range that look to be strong and well made and the pictures of the model you have ordered looks good as well. Could be a real bargain!
73 Ed.
Update - like I said I was tempted and of course Amazon showed me alrternatives as well and I ended up buy for €36 including shipping because of discounts - this “MountainTop” Rucksack:
I have received some money already and if I am lucky enough to receive some more, I think I will try to find the rest of the needed funds to replace my SOTA boots. I bought my Scarpa SL M3 boots in April 2004, a short time after the SOTA bug had bitten. My boots cost £150, which was quite an outlay but I’d told the fitter in the Climbers Shop, Ambleside that I wanted good quality boots that could handle winter use. I don’t think I can complain - that’s £10 per year. These boots were worn throughout my Mountain Goat campaign, so I think I’ve had my money’s worth.
Unfortunately the leather is starting to crack at the creases and the soles are starting to show wear on the edges.
Another thing that I’m hoping for is the new CW amplifier kit from Hans Summers. I’ve been looking at amps for a while and none of the available kits were suitable and in my price bracket. The kit from Hans looks perfect! Cheap too at about £45 delivered including case.
Possibly. Only issue I see is that I do not have a dog.
My post was serious, yes, I’m sure there’s a bit of life left in my boots, but they are showing their age and mountain safety would undoubtedly be improved by a new pair. The soles on my old boots always have been very hard, they’re not very grippy on wet surfaces.
Finding boots that cover all bases is hard. I don’t like lined boots, I find them too hot. Unlined boots seem to be rare - most seem to have an eVent or GoreTex liner. I also want at least a B1 rating so that I have option of using my crampons (C1).
There you are with a new item for your Christmas gifts list.
I always was against having a dog because I thought they are just one more obligation in this full-of-obligations-life, but after my daughters begging I finally yielded and adopted Lucho, a Pyrenean shepherd like dog, when it was just 2 or 3 months old.
I assure you it was a great decision I never regreted of. My kids love Lucho, they have become more responsible, as I made them take care of Lucho in many aspects and I enjoy walking with it particularly when going to the mountains. My wife and I also love Lucho. Lucho has several times been very helpful on finding the way back after a SOTA activation, as dogs have the smell sens far more developped than us, humans, and in case of options, it’s easy for them to find the right track through which we ascended on our way to the summit.
A dog will always be happy to see you when you get back home, which might not always be the case with the rest of the living beings at home, either humans or not…
It’s a perfect way to keep using your partly worn boots. I also believe there are still several years of other-than-mountaineering use in them.
73,
Guru
P.D. in case you decide going for a dog, don’t buy one, please, and adopt some puppy. There are usually many available and they all deserve a family.
I immediately thought of my 2008 vintage Kayland Contact 1000 boots. The soles look remarkably like those on your boots. I no longer trust them on the hills and they have been put out to grass, that is for local walking.
I still like them as they are very comfortable.
As for Christmas, well the present came early for me in the form of an Icom IC-703 - no longer made of course, but I procured a good secondhand one. It took a long time to decide whether I really needed another rig. I decided I didn’t, but I overcame that feeling. Unfortunately somehow Santa hacked my account and I ended up paying for it.
In some ways we would love to have a dog, and yes, we would prefer a mutt over a fancy, overbred, pedigree.
My parents have a dog called Finn - he was rescued as a puppy in County Kerry, Ireland. Finn was named after Finn MacCool, as in the Giants Causeway.
My youngest son is very fond of Finn (the dog) and likes to take him for a walk along Hadrian’s Wall. Here they are pictured on Hadrian’s Wall in October. Finn is old now, he’s deaf and is partially sighted.
I’m a chaser but I’ve enough to start activating !
On the delivery note I found the remark “Artikel ist ausverkauft” (out of stock). 
I found also the remark “Ihr Vorteilscode wurde erfolgreich eingelöst.” (Your advantage code was successfully converted). What they are mean? 
