Please help. I know of a few summits that I have done so far that you can get to by car and then activate by a wheelchair or for some one that could not walk far. ie. G/CE-001, G/WB-021 etc.
If you can name any please post here I need to create a list.
Thanks
Steve
In reply to 2E0KPO:
Hi Steve,
You’ll know some of these:
G/
CE-005 (by the road within the activation zone)
DC-003, DC-004, DC-005
NP-028
SC-008, SC-010
SE-001, SE-004, SE-007
TW-005
WB-005 (depends on disability), WB-023
GM/
SS-254 (the only place I’ve seen a wildcat! - pre-SOTA activation).
GW/
MW-037
SW-018, 028, 036
73, Gerald
Hi Steve
A long drive but on GW/NW-071 you can drive to within 20ft of the trig and operate from the side of a car and GW/NW-070 you can park in the car park which is in the AZ, it’s pay and display, 60p for 2 hrs at this time of year, and operate just over the wall, approx 2ft high with gaps to get a wheel chair through, although best accompanied bgecause of the terrain. Not brilliant for 2m HH operation though because of breakthrough/desensing but ok if accompanied by someone to erect an antenna horizontal or for HF.
73 Mike
Steve, my apologies, I meant GW/NW-064 Mynydd Rhiw where you can drive to within 20ft of the trig as described above and not GW/NW 71 which, although only a short walk, I wouldn’t recommend to wheel chair users.
Please amend your records as such, sorry for any inconvenience caused by my clanger
73 Mike
Hi Steve,
I think GW MW 025, the Begwyns might be do-able on a nice day. It’s not too far and a fairly gentle well worn path from the road. If you do want to do this one it’s very local to me (like just up the road from my house) and you’d be very welcome to call by for tea etc, not to mention a hand with anything if wanted. Drop me an email on hughesatclyro@tiscali.co.uk if you’d like to call by.
73s de Neil, MW0ECX
In reply to 2E0KPO:
Hi Steve, of the summits I have done, besides those already mentioned, a couple could be suitable -
SC-004 - there are several pull-offs off the road to the South of the summit that are within the AZ, including the end of the ride into the wood at ST232162 which is quite large but will probably be in use for woodland management during working hours.
WB-020 - if you approach from the East you can park at the head of the public road at SO415487, it is only a short distance up a reasonable track to a point within the AZ. No doubt by asking at the farm permission could be obtained to park further up the track within the AZ if necessary.
Hope that helps!
73 de Paul G4MD
In reply to 2E0KPO:
CE002 Walton Hill has a wide easy angled path of hard beaten red earth but the wheelchair might need a bit of an assist at one point where the path has a bad rain gully crossing it.
WB003 Stiperstones has a broad easy-angled path from the carpark at the south end but it becomes very stoney approximately where you reach the activation zone and the summit itself requires you to be able bodied.
Gerald mentions WB005 Long Mynd. Perhaps someone can confirm this but I think the road must enter the activation zone. I haven’t been there since SOTA started and my visualisation may be faulty.
Finally DC007 Watchcroft. The track to the house touches the activation zone but the summit itself is only easy to get to when it has been burned off.
I hope this helps…and it might be worth setting up a permanent file of proven wheelchair friendly summits.
73
Brian G8ADD
In reply to G8ADD:
it might be worth setting up a permanent
file of proven wheelchair friendly summits.
I agree with the above and also your comments about the various summits Brian, but I think the list needs to be graded in some way. For example, I wouldn’t want to activate Watchcroft on VHF from the driveway (assuming the owners are happy to grant vehicular access anyway) as the summit would block the main take off direction. HF is a different matter of course.
73, Gerald
In reply to G4OIG:
This is an excellent thread and it’s refreshing to see SOTA considering the inclusion of the disabled, even if the number of accessible summits is limited.
73 Mike
TW-004 should be on the list as most activity on there seems to take place in a layby off the main road.
Andy
MM0FMF
Keep it going chaps. I been asked by someone that can’t walk very far. I will take anything that’s suggested and then take a look and make a decision by visiting it if I haven’t been there already.
SOTA does not have a definitive list of very easy summits, when I mean very easy I mean just that. Walking needs to be no more than a few hundred yards on the flat, or a clean and easy path.
Even though it’s not necessarily the right way of doing SOTA, you almost need to be able to activate from a car. (Yes I know that’s not in right according to the rules, but I feel some leeway should be considered)
For instance Winter Hill I would consider one that could be done, with a bit of flexibility in the rules.
Thanks
Steve
In reply to 2E0KPO:
For instance Winter Hill I would consider one that could be done, with
a bit of flexibility in the rules.
No flexibility needed for this one.
Winter Hill Sp-010 is wheelchair accessible even from the car-parking spot at the lower end of the access road. I know this for definate as my wife (who uses a wheelchair) has accompanied me a couple of times in her powered chair. Although I would reccomend parking above the two cattle-grids as I found the bypass gates to be locked on one occaision.
Another option for this hill without annoying Arqiva (the owners of the site) is to park at the fenced enclosure about 500 yds below the main site. This is within the activation zone and so a 1 metre ascent (about 10 foot of walking) would suffice. The fence also can be used to lash the antenna.
Hope this helps.
Ian
In reply to 2E0KPO:
Hi Steve
MW-038 - 5 min walk (able-bodied person) on track into activation zone. Might be OK with wheelchair.
MW-029 - Road is about 5m outside activation zone. About 1 min walk into activation zone and 5 minutes to the summit.
73 John GW4BVE
In reply to 2E0KPO:
Even though it’s not necessarily the right way of doing SOTA, you
almost need to be able to activate from a car. (Yes I know that’s not
in right according to the rules, but I feel some leeway should be
considered)
Steve,
I suggested a relaxation for the disabled about a year ago - I don’t need to tell you the result!
73, Gerald
In reply to G4OIG:
Yes Gerald I was aware of what happened last time. A shame, but no surprise.
I been speaking to a few people that want to get more involved than just sitting in the shack.
I have been on a bit of a mad session on summits and they have asked me to keep a look out for the kind of summit they could do. It is also dead easy for me to ask for help in sorting out a list on here as well to speed things up.
I plan to then post the information on a website. This is off my own back, nothing to do with SOTA as it was clear that the MT did not want to get involved the last time this issue was raised.
I for one would not give a monkeys a… if I knew an activation was made outside of the rules i.e. from a car by a disabled person who just wanted to get involved, after all I would happily put money on the fact that some very capable activators have operated from very close to their car or bent the rules to suit themselves.
Here is a question for the MT… if you went up Snowdon by train and activated on a handy from inside the café with an earphone on is this within the rules… ?
In reply to G4OIG:
I and possibly more importantly my wife dont agree that the rules should be relaxed to incorporate disabled people. She accepts that there will be some things she cant do. She does though, accept that it is up to her to find things that are within her limitationd. Its not the management teams fault that SOTA requires the ascent of hills which people may or not be able to get up.
An ascent and activation of Snowdon via the railway is possible and within the rules of SOTA. For an able bodied activator this may not be considered within the “spirit” but would be classed differently for a less able bodied person.
However, no matter what you change the rules to, an activation of Tryfan would not generally be possible if you were not able bodied ( awaits for reply containing long lists of wheelchair ascents).
What can be done though, is a list of easily accesible summits (which this thread and others have aspired to do).
If the rules were to change, how could you change them. A hypothetical scenario would be :-
A new Nepaleese association. The prize is an activation of XX/XX-001 Everest. For 99.9% of people they would not be able to activate this summit. Would we change the rules to allow more people to activate it? I think not.
My twopeneth.
Ian
G7ADF
In reply to 2E0KPO:
“Here is a question for the MT… if you went up Snowdon by train and activated on a handy from inside the café with an earphone on is this within the rules… ?”
You don’t have to be a member of the MT to answer this one.
The floor of the cafe is outside the activation zone on my map. I gather it is being rebuilt so things may be different in future, of course.
We must allow disabled people their dignity. That doesn’t mean relaxing rules to allow them meaningless achievements. It does mean doing everything we can to help them in genuine achievements, from mapping out which summits can be activated by them to volunteering assistance if they can achieve more summits with the aid of some extra manpower on the dicey bits. A couple of helpers and a wheelchair could get far enough up the track from the Snowdon cafe to reach the AZ if not the summit. Similarly the track from Llanfairfechan to the summit of Drum gives 4WD access to the NE end of the Carneddau ridge and a team of helpers could get a wheelchair to Carnedd Llewellyn and back, there are some stoney sections but the gradients are not too bad. Looked at in this light a surprising amount could be achieved. In my opinion helpers would not detract from the achievement, either - after all, it would take a team of two able-bodied people to get to the summit of the Inn Pin!
That is just my opinion, of course, Ian, what does your XYL think?
73
Brian G8ADD
In reply to G8ADD:
I think that Steve 2E0KPO is doing a sterling job in putting the list of summits available for acces by the disabled.
Brian, I agree with your remarks regarding the rules and the disabled, I’m sure Steve does also. Being in that situation myself, although not registered as disabled, I don’t want sympathy or to be treated in any other way to an able bodied activator, all I ask is that when/where it’s either neccessary/possible to drive into the AZ or up to a trig point and activate a summit totally independant from, but beside the car and fully within the rules, that people will accept the activation as within the rules and within the spirit.
PS It has been questioned in the past
73 Mike
In reply to G8ADD:
There is no doubt in what can be acheived. If that’s what the person wanted (an assisted ascent) then fine. It certainly would be valid from my point of view. After all, driving a car to a parking spot is an assisted ascent. Or should we changed the rules that we have to walk from our QTH.
That is why the rules currently are sound. The specify no minimum ascent. Activating from near a car is valid if you can get the car legally into the activation zone. I suppose landing a helicopter into the zone may count too, but not sure on this one.
My wife doesnt come climbing with me. Because she cant. Simple. No amount of wishing it will make it happen. So she goes off spending my money instead 
Ian
G7ADF
In reply to G7ADF:
Fully understood Ian, but I am concerned that when subjects such as this arise, extremes have to be quoted. My suggestion was simply for a relaxed activation zone so the number of summits available to the disabled activator would be increased. It will be interesting to see how many or how few, depending upon one’s perspective, Steve’s list turns up.
The reason that I raised the issue last time was because Quentin GW3BV was getting an interest in activating and I wondered whether there might be some way of encouraging him and others that are genuinely in a similar situation.
73,
Gerald
In reply to GW0DSP:
Well, Mike, this would be within the rules of the Backpacking Contest going by pictures in RSGB publications, and who are we to argue with the RSGB? My opinion is that being near the car but not dependent on it for power or antenna support would not invalidate an activation, but I would become very thoughtful if I heard that the cigar lighter socket or a car mounted antenna had been used.
I should make it clear that in my last post I would support the use of a 4WD to reach Drum up the track but NOT for the ridge walk to Carnedd Llewellyn (I didn’t make that clear!) and in your case, Mike, I am pretty sure that you would not advocate taking a car where cars should not go even if they could.
With regard to Steve’s list, I think that on future activations many of us will be looking at our summits in a different light!
73
Brian G8ADD