Mount Sparrowhawk 10,240ft requires 4,429ft ascent, I only managed 4,419ft of ascent.
The last 10ft would have required transitioning off a 45 degree knee-deep snow slope onto a steeper wet slab liberally covered in marble sized scree…
Its all about consequences. In summer, [yes winter has arrived here, north facing slopes over 8,000ft/2500m are unlikely to loose their snow until next April…] this is an “Easy” but strenuous scramble, a tumble is unlikely to lead to more than a few scrapes.
Today a slip will fire you down a snow chute +3,000ft into the next valley, the last 1000ft would probably be in the air as your ejected off a rock band. This is a somewhat of an excuse for me NOT attempting those last 10ft. The base cairn and mini weather station were tantalizingly close, but retracing steps was going to be hard enough and surely 10ft was close enough for activation?
Turning around on a steep snow slope on hidden scree was definitely more interesting than I needed and took twice as long as the ascent to reach the comparative safety of a nearby col. Being ahead of my published Alert I still had time to set up the 1/4wave vertical and counterpoise despite the high winds. However the next hour was spent fruitlessly surfing between 14.342 and 14.285 to try and find some empty air. Very frustrating I could easily hear South Carolina on a Net on 14.342, even after an hour this net was still active, Down 5 another net, down 5 another net, 14.285 had strong signals in maybe Portuguese (definitely not Spanish). So after over an hour CQ on HF 20m & 40m on the precarious wind blown perch, a return to all the conveniences of civilization was necessary.
Lessons learned;
Safety, Safety Safety (probably no more 8 point Peak attempts until next spring)
The SOTA gods are always watching (they knew I did not make that last 10ft)
It’s no real comfort but those photos sort of make up for failing. They look to be well beyond my comfort zone.
CW, CW, CW; I must , I must I must…
It was only through just succeeding to qualify a summit when the WX suggested sparks and bangs were due and I spent 45mins trying for the final QSO that I finally put some real effort into learning. Till then, I’d been merely going through the motions of learning and pretending to myself I was doing enough. Suddenly I had the desire to be able to drink at the 7.032 watering hole of SOTA goodness where (in Europe) you can always guarantee enough chasers to qualify. I wanted it enough to knuckle down and just do it. I’ve plateaued at about 18WPM in contest mode and about 10WPM in ragchew mode. That’s more than good enough SOTA.
10mins practice a night every night plus the desire is enough to get you to a usable 12wpm in no time. And I can certify that if you’re calling CQ SOTA at 12wpm from those never-activated summits in VE, the serious chasers will QRS for you so they can get the points!
A valiant effort Walker! As far as learning CW…download the G4FON CW trainer program… and any weekend I’d be happy to try some 40M CW QSO’s with you for practise…any speed you feel comfortable at…I still pretty much consider myself a CW rookie.
In reply to VA6FUN:
Thanks Mike,
Definitely will appreciate some practice, I have been using G4FON & Simply Morse. As soon as I stop trying to count dits/dahs when copying numbers I will contact you.
73, de VA6MCB
Walker
It could also be a matter of spreading the SOTA virus. Some years ago I could call CQ for an hour on 40 m SSB when operating from a National Park and have to resort to joining a net to get a contact. Now with parks activity being drawn along in the slipstream of SOTA a pile up is more likely than silence.
SOTA and park operation is addictive for the chasers as well as the activators but they need to know you are out there.
What fabulous scenery - making the contacts would have been nice but what a walk.
