The Snow is Coming

Old Reflector
1

So everyone keeps saying. But on the morning of Thursday 21st March 2013 (now officially springtime), I found it was already here. An early get-up saw me away at 5.45am and onto the M56 motorway, and A55 across North Wales. The chit-chat on GB3PZ 70cm IRLP repeater (Stalybridge) kept me company most of the way to Conwy.

After turning left (south), then following the signs through Rowen, I was soon regretting not consulting Jimmy in more detail. Which was the road that didn’t have the horrid sharp bends, where the width of the tarmac equalled the width of my car, and no more? And didn’t have the gates? Well, not the one through Rowen it turned out. Worse still, despite a favourable weather forecast and dry road surfaces all the way, ice was now beginning to appear on the tarmac in isolated patches. When not anxiously looking down at the road, I anxiously looked up at the hills. They were white!

I parked on the usual cul-de-sac road (ends in a car park) just south of Tal y Fan GW/NW-040. Here I discovered the absence of my camera. A text exchange with my XYL Marianne confirmed it was still in the shack, and I would have to take some piccys on my 'phone and try to transfer them to my PC via Bluetooth.

There wasn’t any snow on the road, but as soon as I’d climbed the ladder stile into the field, there was plenty. And more and more as I got higher. Another walker overtook me on this section, he was the first of just three on this hill this morning.

As usual, I ignored the marked path that takes a scrambly route alongside the wall, and walked around the north side of the hill. I spotted the usual gully where I make a beeline for the ridge, but it was under pretty deep snow. Clearly, other walkers had been up and down it, so I gave it a go, trying to remove images from my mind of the Snowdon gully slide that has been all over the telly and YouTube recently!

Taking care with each footstep, and kicking steps into the snow as necessary got me to the wall, a little out of breath and with considerable aches in my calf muscles. Probably as much ache as from last week’s ascent of Corndon Hill, but not as much as from covering the brake pedal on last week’s driving descent down the Long Mynd road!

Soon I was at the summit and trig point, but the wind was very stiff, and was whipping up lots of snow from the ground. I dropped a little back towards the gully, and found some partial shelter by some big rocks. It took me a while to get the 40m dipole up and stay up, and I then sat down to operate.

The wind was still whipping the snow about, so I had to retreat into my bothy bag. The problem with this was that I couldn’t see when my pole had fallen down again! I could hear the 40m band suddenly go silent though, which gave me a pretty big clue!

When this happened for the third time, I had made 17 contacts in 19 minutes, and decided to call it a day. Apologies to all stations still waiting for the QSO. A call on 2m FM brought one further QSO, and I set about dismantling the station. The SOTA Pole had not frozen, much to my relief, and the steep descent down the snowy gully was not too bad either.

After reaching the car, I treated myself to half my flask of spiced squash and red pepper soup, and commenced the drive north to Great Orme GW/NW-070.

Tom M1EYP

2

In reply to M1EYP:

It came last Monday. 18cms in 18hrs. I recon I’ve shoveled several tons of snow this last week or so. Perishingly cold, -4C this morning. Brilliantly sunny day however. Still below 0 now and it’s still light :frowning:

I’m onto my reserve pile of road salt and snow is predicted for the weekend. Hopefully the council will stock up the bins before it comes. They’re normally good like that.

Andy
MM0FMF

3

In reply to M1EYP:

Pleased to work you on both summits today Tom. I quite fancied getting out myself with the “Spring” sunshine, but a pre-arranged meeting prevented that.

In reply to MM0FMF:

We have bins here, but they are full of air. That’s why I have a Quattro. No, I tell a lie - SOTA is why I have a Quattro. :slight_smile:

73, Gerald G4OIG

4

In reply to G4OIG:

I have a quattro.

:slight_smile:

But snow and 255/35R19 don’t mix.

:frowning:

Andy
MM0FMF

5

In reply to MM0FMF:

For what it’s worth, the snow reached here half an hour ago - they’ve promised us another few days of it. Delightful!

73

Brian G8ADD

PS I’ve always enjoyed kicking steps up a snow slope, at least until the sound of it creaking turns your bowels to water! :frowning:

6

As per usual, without the JimNav in the car, I couldn’t remember the driving route up Great Orme from Llandudno town centre. A couple of failed attempts were made to find it, before I eventually remembered it was the street by the right-hand side of the Empire Hotel. It was to be the easy/lazy approach to the summit of Great Orme GW/NW-070 on Thursday 21st March 2013, for I had to be back home by 3.20pm. In the past I have walked to the summit from Llandudno, which was very enjoyable, although even then I took the cable car back!

After parking in the main car park in front of the Summit Complex building (including Randolph Turpin’s famous pub), I went to the meter to pay for my parking ticket. The meter was out-of-order, and I noticed a distinct lack of pay-and-display tickets in other car windscreens - so I decided it was safe to park for free!

Although the strong wind experienced on Tal y Fan was distinctly southerly, here right on the coast it was pretty well all over the place. Finding a sheltered spot that was comfortably inside the activation zone was tricky. Eventually I settled for the grassy slope by the far side (from the car park) of the children’s play park.

This was handy as I could attach the ends of the dipole legs to the wire fence simply by looping the wire winders around the fence posts. Once sat down on my mat, I was pretty much sheltered and could look forward to a much more comfortable activation than earlier on Tal y Fan GW/NW-040.

All the chasers were out in force once again, and I made a lightning 29 QSOs in 15 minutes of operating. Sadly, on that first silence that greeted two consecutive CQ calls, I needed to pack away in order to make my deadline. No hint of snow anywhere on the Orme or surroundings; a total contrast to the ample quantities of it on Tal y Fan GW/NW-040 earlier.

The remainder of the spiced squash & red pepper soup was enjoyed in the car, then I had a good run back to Macclesfield. The natter over the GB3PZ repeater kept me engaged during the journey as it had done for the outward leg that morning. A bit of a gridlock in Knutsford raised the stress levels for about ten minutes or so, but I was still back in time.

Many thanks to all callers, and “hats off” to the following who got me on both summits: DL1FU, MW0BBU, G3XQE, PA0HRM, G4WSB, DL3HXX, G4SSH, G4ASA, DL7URB, G3RMD, DL2KAS, DJ5AV, G4OIG, DK7ZH, GI4SRQ.

Tom M1EYP

7

In reply to M1EYP:
The most straight forward way up the Orme is to go straight along the sea front, along the toll road ( toll covers parking at top)turn left to the top. When you have finished return to the toll road turn left and carry on round. This way you avoid the town centre in and out completely.

8

In reply to GW4ZPL:

John,

Thanks for the tip; we did that once, many years ago and I had quite forgotten. It is on the list to do sometime when anything more exciting seems to be off for some reason.

73,
Rod

9

And then (Friday 22nd March 2013) the snow came. And so did the wind. In all honesty, not a lot of snow fell. But the gale force winds were blasting whatever it could out of fields, through gates and sculpting huge white ‘sleepng policemen’ in the roads. A few of these had to be negotiated in the country lanes around North Road once the police roadblock had forced me off the A523 Macc-Leek road. Apparently, Bosley crossroads (A523/A54 junction) was blocked with drifted snow, and the problem was recreating itself as fast as the fleet of yellow vehicles could clear it!

I suspected I might not be able to drive right up to the normal parking spot of Cloudside on Red Lane, but I was wrong. Half a mile to the west of the A523, the roads were almost completely clear, except for two small patches of ice on the higher part of Red Lane.

It was incredibly windy though. Not too cold, although I’m sure the windchill factor would have been significant given the wind speed. I followed the usual staircase route up The Cloud G/SP-015, almost deafened by the sound of the angry easterly wind crashing into the wooded area to my right.

It was the same experience once out into the open on the National Trust land. The amplification factor of a few score trees getting in the way of the gale was gone, but only replaced by the increasingly loud howling of the wind as the path got higher and more exposed. By the most exposed bit, a few metres just before the summit where a steep drop lurks to the side of the path, the wind was really pushing my body around, and even had be running involuntarily at one point. Care was needed.

My planning was good. In the car earlier, I was in a group QSO on the Stoke-on-Trent repeater, GB3VT, output 145.725MHz. I requested all the guys to meet me on S20 at 1325z, and also asked known chaser Dave M3XIE to spot me as being QRV by that time. I simply put my logbook, pencil and VX7 into my coat pockets and ascended without a rucksack or poles.

My first CQ SOTA call was met with a barrage of stations, so several had obviously responded to the repeater request, or seen Dave’s spot (thanks Dave). In the next six minutes, seven stations were worked, all on 2m FM, and I then made for a sharp exit.

This time, I found myself experiencing zero velocity as the force of my body going forward was met with equal and opposite from the wind blasting into my chest, head on. This was right by that exposed part of the path as well. Again, care was taken as I worked my way past that part and back down to the woods, and then the car.

The weather was so bad today that only a complete nutter would go out activating - and I wanted to be the one. Seems I was the only one as well!

Tom M1EYP

10

In reply to M1EYP:
The weather was so bad today that only a complete nutter would go out

activating - and I wanted to be the one. Seems I was the only one as
well!

The snow, wind and top 12 feet of one of my leylandii trees crashing into the garden, bringing down the half size G5RV, put paid to any thoughts of activating for me today.

Too heavy to move, so chainsaw out tomorrow :frowning:

73 Mike
2E0YYY

11

In reply to 2E0YYY:

Mike,

It never occurred to me that you actually had an aerial at home too :slight_smile:

Bad luck on the damage; I hope there are no other consequences.

73,
Rod

12

In reply to 2E0YYY:

wind and top 12 feet of one of my leylandii trees

Isn’t there a law that limits Leylandii hedge height to 3m or so?

Andy
MM0FMF

13

In reply to MM0FMF:

wind and top 12 feet of one of my leylandii trees

“Isn’t there a law that limits Leylandii hedge height to 3m or so?”

A few Leylandii trees does not necessarily constitute a hedge Andy. We inherited 3 (now only 1) by no means a hedge - that’s the 8 ft Laurel underplanting (not belonging to us) :slight_smile:

I think you may be referring to the following - not a law as such but a regulation which may be used to ‘resolve’ such a dispute (although maybe not neighbourly relations) if all else fails: (This, by the way, was not used in our case - I simply decided to fell them a few years apart instead of topping them regularly to keep them below the neighbour’s house - built relatively recently!)

The High Hedges Regulations were introduced as part of the Anti Social Behaviour Act 2003 but only enacted in June 2005. An application for judgement can be made where there are at least two evergreen or semi evergreen trees or bushes over 2 metres high which, in the opinion of the complainant, are adversely affecting that persons enjoyment of their home and/or garden.

This regulation could in theory be used against my neighbour’s laurel hedge, running the full length of the garden, but I would actually be devastated if they cut it down. As far as I’m concerned the more trees the better from an amateur’s point of view - either to shield or to anchor antennas :wink:

Karen

14

In reply to 2E0XYL:

I knew there was something! We had a hedge of about 7 trees. It was about 4ft high and 6ft deep. If you kept pruning it a bit everyday it didn’t get out of hand! On a quiet day you could hear it growing.

When I started to remove it my neighbour was so delighted he came and helped then bought me a bottle of wine as a thank you. Better was the fact it was like the garden doubled in size when it went. Best of all was I did it myself and didn’t pay the bloke who wanted £200 to get rid.

Andy
MM0FMF

15

In reply to M1EYP:

Whats all this talk of snow, its sunny, blue skies & 28C here.
Inky (currently geocaching in Gran Canaria, no radio this time).

16

In reply to G1INK:
Good for you Steve!
Miserable weather in the SE but easy compared to further north.
I have seedlings in the greenhouse with nowhere to go because of wx 8(

Mike G6TUH

17

In reply to G1INK:

No radio? The beer must be superb!

73

Brian G8ADD

18

In reply to G8ADD:

No Brian, it will be the usual pale anaemic stuff, but I tell you what - the Bingo is brilliant! :wink:

73, Gerald G4OIG

19

In reply to G4OIG:

Steve drinking pale anaemic stuff - you are shaking my faith in humanity, Gerald!

73

Brian G8ADD

20

My website is now up-to-date with the three activations mentioned above, before the thread super-hijack taking us discussing council regulations on leylandii and the merits of cold Spanish lager vs warm British ale in Gran Canaria.

Feel free to check it out, sign the guestbook, complain on here etc (whatever floats your boat) at http://tomread.co.uk

All the photos of a snowy Tal y Fan GW/NW-040 and a snow-free Great Orme GW/NW-070 are there, as well as updated reports and log tables on The Cloud G/SP-015 and Gun G/SP-013 pages.

I have also added a photo of the large St David’s day party on Cadair Idris, and a couple of my now Highly Organised HF antennas, labelled up, and with the appropriate number of lightweight alloy pegs and reusable cable ties in the colour-coded SOTAbeams antenna bags. These photos are on the webpag for The Cloud G/SP-015, near the bottom of the page. No more hunting or untangling for me!

Tom M1EYP