I guess, when our friends from the other end of this planet, i.e. VK, are reading the title of this activation report, they will declare me insane, as they are wishfully waiting for the upcoming summer 
Nevertheless, for SOTA activators on the northern hemisphere it is inevitable that sooner or later, warmer clothing should be packed in the rucksack 
In the northern alpine regions, like DL or OE, four days ago the first snowfall for the upcoming winter became reality and brought, at least in the higher regions, up to 1m snow height. But thatâs no excuse for not doing a SOTA activation, especially, if the weather forecast is as promising as it has been for today.
My todays destination for a SOTA activation was the Gratlspitze, OE/TI-500. With a height of abt. 1900m ASL I expected not too much snow. This summit has been activated the first time by OE/F8CZI in the year 2010 with only 4 contacts on 40m, so I thought it would do no harm to add another couple of contacts on different HF bands to the history of this summit.
I started early in the morning in the small village Alpbach at a height of abt. 975m ASL, so I had to climb up nearly 1000m to reach the top of the Gratlspitze.
First view to the Gratlspitze, early in the morning:
During my hiking tour I really enjoyed the fine weather, with the bright blue sky here in the Alpbachtal. It looked like, that in the nearby Inntal the lower regions were completely hidden under dense fog and only the higher summits of the Karwendel mountains jutted out of the fog.
But my happiness soon got dampened, because with the increased elevation gain also the height of the snow increased. An average of 30cm of snow, partly up to 40cm, made the hiking more and more strenuous. Especially the consistency of the snow cover made it difficult because at one step the frozen, hard crust was strong enough to carry my weight, while at the next step my feet sunk down to the ground. It was really grueling.
Finally I arrived at the summit of the Gratlspitze
where I had a superb view to the nearby mountains, e.g. the Karwendel mountains
or the snow-covered Alpbachtal
I hope you agree, that this views were more than rewarding.
Soon I finished to set up my equipment at a very pleasant operating position
During the following SOTA activation, I got nearly 30 contacts on CW on the 30m band, 15 contacts on SSB and nearly 20 contacts on CW on the 20m band in my log.
Afterward I tried also the 17m band, with 4 contacts and the 12m band with 10 contacts. Happily also a couple of N.A. chasers called in.
After this pleasing activation, I wasnât bothered too much, that I had to trudge through the meanwhile very soft snow down to the valley.
View back to the Gratlspitze, OE/TI-500:
Again, thanks to all chasers for calling me.
73 Stephan, DM1LE
