Josh, WU7H, earned his 2000th point as an activator on a New Years Eve double activation.
Josh needed exactly 18 points to hit the landmark. So we went out on New Years Eve and activated South Lookout Mountain (W7W/WH-206)–6 points, plus 3 winter bonus points times two (2022 and 2023). Exactly what he needed.
Our adventure started with a 3 hour drive north towards the Canadian border to the Glacier Creek Sno-park in Washington State. There we unloaded a couple of snowmobiles and motored about an hour in the general direction of the summit on a forest service road that frequently was covered in actual snow. As we gained elevation, the snow became “full time.” The best-case scenario would be snowmobiling right into the activation zone on groomed snowmobile trails. Alas, there was no evidence of trail grooming whatsoever.
We proceeded until the snow got too deep for our machines and we were taking turns getting stuck. So we turned the machines around, strapped on snowshoes, and hiked the final 2.3 miles and 1,100’. It was something of a struggle in the deep snow.
We arrived with about 25 minutes remaining for a 2022 activation. Josh set up his KX2 and random wire antenna while I pleaded and begged on 2m simplex for QSOs. We did manage to work a few folks on 2m, but a couple of CQs on 20m provided Josh with a great big New Years Eve pile-up, that included a couple of S2Ss for both of us.
At the stroke of Midnight-zulu, Josh started again and worked a handful of stations–enough for an activation with points–and handed the paddle to me. Altruistic? Yeah, sure. But really, Josh decided he needed to get some feeling back in his fingers before things got ugly. Besides the cold, we were in something of a snowstorm. I worked the pile-up until nobody replied to my “QRZ?” We packed up and high-tailed it out of there, back to the machines, and motored back into the rain. It took a couple of hours to get back to the truck and trailer; we arrived cold, wet and pretty much exhausted.
Several hours later, back at my house, we cracked a couple of local winter ales and toasted our adventure and Josh’s double-goat. Josh was keen to point out that we didn’t do this because it was easy. No…we did this because we THOUGHT it would be easy.
Congratulations, Josh!
) when I can get back up to your neck of the woods for another eyeball QSO/Salmoncon camping trip…
Look forward to many more chases and S2S with both of you guys!
