Hi all,
just curious: Is there already an award scheme or competition for “summer & winter completes”, e.g. you would have to activate the same summit in summer and in winter (in two different calendar years)?
If such does not exist, I think it would be nice to add it, since that would create a nice incentive for more winter activations.
73 de Martin, DK3IT
I personally don’t think that we should load more incentives onto winter activations, Martin. Summits that are a pleasant outing in summer can be much more demanding in winter, needing more skill and experience to activate in safety. Too much incentive might tempt less experienced activators into dangerous situations. I have no experience of German summits in winter, but I know from experience that on the higher Scottish mountains a pleasant sunny winter walk can change to a battle against a howling blizzard in as little as ten minutes. We wouldn’t want to lose any activators!
As much as I believe more activations are generally good, winter activations initiated in the best of weather can turn treacherous in no time at all. Despite all the warnings and documentation on the SOTA site regarding having the proper equipment to safely perform a winter activation its very tempting to hike a summit on a sunny, mild day wearing a light jacket or pullover. Winter activations require an extra measure of planning by experienced activators, in my humble opinion.
Hi Martin
Within the formal SOTA framework it is possible for each of us to set personal challenges, especially once we have “run out” of summits within reasonable travelling distance. As you say, summits could be activated in summer / winter, light / dark, wet / dry, or on as many different bands / modes as you can manage.
I’m inclined to agree with Brian and Chuck above, that making it in any way competitive wouldn’t be such a good idea.
I see all your arguments 
My initial idea was that I guess there are many SOTA activists who do skitouring (on furs) or snow shoe tours. For them, such a tandem-scheme would give an incentive to do a skitouring summit in summer or a summer summit as a ski tour in winter.
Of course, winter mountaineering can be more challenging than summer mountaineering, but at least in the Alps, there are summits that are easier on skis in winter than to be climbed in summer.
Anyway, I buy your points and definitely did not want to put anybody in danger.
73 de Martin, DK3IT