SoFi = abbreviation for the German word Sonnen Finsternis = solar eclipse
Like many others, I didn’t want to miss out for the predicted partial solar eclipse. Therefore, after a long time (nearly half a year) of SOTA abstinence, I finally managed to go out again for a SOTA activation on last friday.
This days destination was my long anticipated ascent of the Zuckerhütl (OE/TI-006) in the Austrian Stubai Alps.
Everybody who hears the summit name “Sugarloaf” (= Zuckerhut) immediately has the famous Pão de Açúcar in Brazil in his mind. Only few people are aware of its European namesake Zuckerhütl
With its height of 3500m and a prominence of 1033m the less famous Zuckerhütl would be certainly a worthy lookout point for watching out for the SoFi.
I hiked up the route to the summit with my skitouring equipment accompanied by excellent weather with a bright blue sky.
My route directed me close to interesting rock formations.
If you compare the shape of the sun of the following pictures with the last picture, you will recognize already a slight deformation of the sun.
After quiet a long walk with lots of elevation gain, finally the silhuette of the Zuckerhütl comes into view:
The little dark “fly spots” at the lower left corner are other mountaineers. Just to have a comparison to the size of this summit.
The final ascent goes up in a gully facing to the north, near to the left edge of the summit.
The ascent through the gully was quiet cold, probably caused by the decrease in temperature due to the ongoing solar eclipse. But finally I stood on top of this nice summit with its beautiful summit-cross.
My operating position on this narrow summit allowed for a nice view down the steep flanks and to the impressive surrounding alps.
The subsequent SOTA activation was quiet a hard work:
My first calls an 14.285-ssb for a couple of minutes didn’t get any response. Therefore I changed to CW on 20m where soon 4 chasers enabled me to qualify for the summit activation. Four contacts would be a little bit less for such a great summit, so I changed over to 30m CW where soon another 9 contacts could be logged. Finally I tried again my luck on 20m SSB where immediately two chasers from Spain gave me call. But after these 2 contacts in SSB it was silent again. Maybe the propagation on this day wasn’t in best shape.
Thanks to all chasers who spotted me on SOTAwatch and for giving me a call.
For those who are interested in more details of the final ascent of the summit I found a nice video on youtube. This video has not been recorded by me, but it gives a nice impression of the fun I had last friday; even if the mountaineers in the video had some better snow conditions than I have had.
Nevertheless, again a great day out.
73 Stephan, DM1LE
