A Tuesday afternoon, after work escape
There's no such thing as Bad Weather, just inappropriate clothing. - YouTube
Ten minute film
I left for work at 0300z and that’s when the snow started falling. It didn’t stop until 1900z that evening. I really wanted to get out for an activation, as I missed the snow and I have missed SOTA! The only hill that I could think of that would be reasonable in the weather was Ben Newe GM/ES-053.
1330z I left home and trundled over to Strathdon and then the short drive up Glen Buchat to the Ben Newe car park. 8 miles. Virgin snow - no one else daft enough to go out today. The usual walking route is still blocked by windfallen trees, so I legged it up the downhill mountain bike track instead. Even under a covering of snow, the track was still just visible. Soon enough this led to a firebreak, then a traverse, before finally climbing open slopes towards the partially wooded summit. The final part of the ascent was in a whiteout at times. 30 mins, 1.7km and 215m ascent.
Parking - plenty of space
The mountain bike trail
Up the firebreak
I’d chosen Ben Newe because I thought the summit shelter and trig point were just the right size to stretch a tarp over. Turns out I was correct. My smugness was short-lived however, as a breeze soon picked up and started to blow the snow in!
summit shelter arrangement
I’d brought an inverted V and also the W3EDP. I used the latter because having the pole some distance from me was more suitable due to the rocky ground around the summit shelter. It would also open up more bands to me. I connected it to the KX-2 via a 9:1 un-un.
I was on the air from around 1514z to 1535z, firstly on 15m where I worked just two stations, both Greek. Thanks @SV1RVJ & @SV2OXS. I must have been on top of another station that I couldn’t hear and tuning around revealed a busy band, but all very faint signals at my end.
20m was next, and surprisingly was full of static crashes, solar noise, QSB and the like. I thought things had settled down by now, but seemingly not. Eric @F5JKK was first in the log, followed by EA, OK, IK, OE, SQ and OH callers. So with ten in the log, poor band conditions, worsening weather and no desire to suffer afternoon 40m QRM, I decided to call QRT.
Eric came back on to query my summit reference. I’d correctly spotted GM/ES-053, however when reading the summit reference from my phone screen to write in the top of my log, I’d mis-read it as 059. This was due to a blob of water on the screen. 059 was what I’d been calling over the air. Thank you Eric. 
I packed up and was away from the summit just before 1600z and was back at the Landie in around 25 mins, having followed the same route.
heading down through snow laden trees
I’m still enjoying the KX2, especially now I have internal batteries for it
Summary
Last time I activated Ben Newe, it was on VHF. In line with my desire to do “repeats” differently, I felt that 4" of snow, HF and using a different trail was different enough.
Good to to get on 15m again - this is a regular occurrence for me this year. The KX2 continues to impress me, both in terms of its’ build and performance. Running internal batteries saves weight and pack size too.
The tarp. on the summit was only a partial success due to the wind. I should have forsaken the view/open front in return for more shelter. It also weighs twice as much as my bothy bag
When I got home I realised that I’d left the guy ring and guys on the summit, so guess where I’ll be going tomorrow morning. And there’s more heavy snow forecast. 
73, Fraser
