Let me start by saying, being primarily a SOTA activator, I’m not a collector of chaser points, although, I do work as many activators from my home QTH as I possibly can.
However, I do collect summit to summit contacts, because, as Brian G8ADD so succinctly put it, these are very special and I still get a buzz when someone calls “summit to summit”, whether SOTA, WOTA or HuMP.
After just over a year, I’ve finally taken time out to enter my summit to summit contacts into the Database (a couple nights of misery I might add) and was surprised to find I’d crossed the magic 1000 point hurdle.
This was thanks to Alan M1EYO, who on the 24 March, provided me with a 10 point summit to summit contact from GW/NW-003 Glyder Fawr to G/WB-005 Long Mynd, completing 1000 summit to summit points.
Since the 2 January last year, I’ve been fortunate enough to accumulate 347 summit to summit contacts, many of these due to the much harder work of other activators. For their huge effort, I’m extremely grateful…
Sorry I could not add to your tally from High Rigg but hopefully I can in the future from the Lakes.
Thank you too for all of your activations using 2m FM, especially with the vertical as this has allowed me to gain my 100 uniques as a chaser with the best one being your Welsh border activation. Without activators like yourself this would not have been possible.
Many congratulations on getting a thousand summit to summit points.
Perhaps there should be a different award for such an achievement as after all how can us genuine Sloths who do as little exercise as possible in the pursuit
of our activities share our awards with masochists such as yourself who haul huge masses of SLAB’s up hills ???
Seriously Mike, many thanks for your own special brand of activation which I am sure has been responsible for bringing many new Uk activators and chasers such as myself into the SOTA fold.
Well done Mike - seems like that might qualify you for the ‘Intermediate Award: 250 unique Summit-Summit contacts’ from one of the other Summits Award Schemes.
I see only one person as so far claimed any of the higher (500, 750, 1000) S2S Awards.
In reply to 2E0YYY:
Well done Mike.
Further misery - now compile your S2S S2WOTA and S2H contacts for the Summitsbase awards in the right spreadsheet format probably starting with your SOTA .csv logs from the database. Mike G4BLH will scrutinise your entry. They’re lovely certificates too [FOC] - all part of the rich world of mountaintop radio.
Congratualations Mike. This thread caused me to check my own S-S chases, and I reckon I have 1012 chaser points from summits (1 is still to be uploaded as I write). But of course you have achieved it much much quicker than I did!
Others must have done it too (G1INK is probably heading for S-S supersloth…)
Many congratulations on the 1000 points Summit to Summit. I agree that they are something special although thus far I only record them along with other activations and chases. Thanks also for the recent s2s NW-086 to SW-017 which was certainly down to your efforts rather than mine. Also for a couple of others during our recent short dash around mid-Wales. I have no idea what my s2s score is; logging the Activations & Chases is more than enough for me at present but one day I will scroll through the log and pick out all the s2s.
I think you have hit exactly the right note for your status in your own choice of title. Summit Sloth is spot on. It sums it up exactly what you do. You get on a summit and once there you stay put. This is a much more sensible course than dashing from summit to summit like most of the rest of us. The term is a direct development from Shack Sloth and I suggest that the MT instigate an appropriate award.
I think you have hit exactly the right note for your status in your
own choice of title. Summit Sloth is spot on. It sums it up exactly
what you do. You get on a summit and once there you stay put. This
is a much more sensible course than dashing from summit to summit like
most of the rest of us. The term is a direct development from Shack
Sloth and I suggest that the MT instigate an appropriate award.
Probably not, Rod. I see some areas of difficulty. Firstly how do you define it? “Somebody who stays on the summit for a long time working lots of stations” is perhaps a little vague. We would probably have to set a minimum time and/or a minimum number of stations worked. Secondly, I am not so sure that we should actively encourage long stays on a summit - certainly not if its a high one. Its probably not too bad on a high summit in high summer for an experienced hill walker, but those with long experience know just how rapidly the summit weather can change from pleasant to ferocious, often in a matter of minutes, and the longer you stay, the more risk you run. If activators want to make a long stay on a summit that is up to them, but if things go wrong we would not like to see blame placed on SOTA for encouraging them!
It is possible to get the certificates and the trophies marked up for variations - my sloth slab of glass says “Uniques” for instance - so such achievements could be celebrated in this way.
set a minimum time and/or a minimum number of
stations worked. Secondly, I am not so sure that we should actively
encourage long stays on a summit - certainly not if its a high one.
For an activator to work an S2S, there must be another activator on another summit. If there, no other activator on a summit, then there’s no further S2Ss! Summit to summit contacts simply come as a result of other activations, they are certainly not the cause of activations.
I suggest that the MT instigate an appropriate award.
Probably not, Rod. I see some areas of difficulty. Firstly how do you
define it?
Am I missing something here? I read this thread as discussing a suitable title to bestow on an activator who earns 1000 chaser points working from summit locations. No need for convoluted definitions - you earn 1000 chaser points working from summits instead of your shack and you become a summit sloth instead of a shack sloth. It has a natural elegance rarely found outside the world of mathematics! Bring it on MT I say
Well done Mike, doubt I’ll ever be joining the ranks of the Summit Sloths…
I’m sure if you ask that nice man GM4TOE to append your award in this way, he will do so for an extra fee to cover the engraver’s extra lettering. As an addition to the official SOTA programme, I would personally think it unnecessary. We already have activator awards and chaser awards, and there is a well established independent award that exists for those that want to celebrate their S2S contacts. May I recommend http://www.summits.org.uk
