Date: 16 October 2011
Time: Approx. 12:00 UTC
Location: Lichtenstein/Austria Border
Summit : Hochälpele (OE/VB-494) – 1464 M / 4803 ft – 6 Pts.
Call Sign: KØMOS/OE
Frequencies: 28.385-ssb,14.3425-ssb (+/-QRM)
Equipment: FT-817ND / vertical dipole (Buddipole)
Matt / KØMOS
!! WARNING !! There are old mountaineers, and
bold mountaineers… there are no old-bold mountaineers.
Hiking and mountain climbing are potentially hazardous activities particularly in Colorado with its extreme elevations. I am not accepting responsibility for any death or injury resulting from activations based on my trip reports. Proper training, experience, and personal capability assessment is required – enjoy!
As I am writing this (November, 25th, 2011), I learned with great sadness that OE9GWI is now a silent key. Even-though I never met Gerhard personally, I had the pleasure working him on all my SOTA activations in Austria. He chased and spotted me on every activation – including this one. He was not only active in the the SOTA program but was also a fellow Buddipole user – I am sorry I could not share this trip report with him – I am sure he would have liked a report from a summit in his ‘back-yard’.
The rather nasty weather (for a Coloradoan anyway) gave me two days off from my activations. During these days, I exchanged a few e-mails with a local HAM – OE9HRV, Herbert – who was my first contact on the ‘Pfänder‘ (on my first activation in Austria). He not only knows his ‘Ländle’ but is also a very busy SOTA activator. He advised me on summits, routes and other local considerations and invited me for a joint activation of the ‘Galinakopf‘ for the next day. I accepted of course – no better way to activate a summit than with local knowledge. This summit is rather interesting and is part of the ‘Rätikon range‘ of the Eastern Alps. Since the border between Austria and the Principality of Liechtenstein goes right across the summit, it carries two SOTA designations – one for Austria (OE/VB-287) and one for Leichtenstein (HBØ/LI-ØØ7). According to the rules, you can activate this summit from both sides and claim the points twice. Since Liechtenstein is a rather small country (160 square kilometers or 62 sq mi and a population of about 35’000) it has only a few SOTA summits (11) and finding an SOTA activator in HBØ is therefore a rare opportunity for chasers everywhere. Unfortunately I did not research whether my radio-license is valid in Liechtenstein and therefore chose to activate the summit from the Austrian side only – just to be sure not to violate any rules/laws.
Trailhead: 5145 ft / 1568 m
Summit: 7211 ft / 2198 m
Elev. gain: 3271 ft / 997 m
Roundtrip: 9.3 mi / 14.9 km
How to get there: Herbert (OE9HRV) provided full service and picked me up at my temporary QTH in Dornbirn. First we headed west into Switzerland and took E43 (N13) south until the exit of Buchs (SG). We continued to Sevelen where we crossed the bridge over the Rhein which brought us into Vaduz (Liechtenstein) and continued towards Malbun via Triesenberg und Steg. We drove in pretty thick fog until we reached Triesenberg at about 3000 ft or 1000 m AMSL. The views above the fog were just breathtaking and Herbert made a short detour to Gaflei to show me around. Just click on the pictures below to get a larger version and a better idea how it looked like.
The view from Gaflei
There is a skiing area just shortly before arriving in Malbun with the necessary parking lots to accommodate all the cars in winter. That is were we parked the car at 9:30 and walked back down a few hundred yards to to the trail-head.
Red Tape:
Make sure to carry your passport when traveling in this border region. You will slip in and out countries several times a day.
The Ascent:
OE9HRV – Herbert is ready to roll
The first section of the 9.3 mi or 14.9 km hike is quite steep over a well maintained forest road and gets your heart pumping for sure. Very soon we had to stop and take off some layers of clothing in order not to overheat. After ~1.2 miles or about 2 kilometers we reached a wooden bench where we stopped for a drink of water and to catch our breath. This is where I heard DL9MDI calling me on the local 2m repeater we were monitoring. DL9MDI (Fred) had been helping me out prior to the trip and so far we only communicated via e-mail and SKYPE. It was a nice surprise and we chatted shortly… he wished us good luck and we were back on the trail. The trail gave away some of the elevation gains (~250 ft / 80 m) on our way towards our target. The trail lead into a large valley where we could finally see the summit.
View into the valleyGrenzstein Austria / Liechtenstein
We continued the hike parallel to a ridge (connecting the Gamsgrat, Ochsenkopf and Scheienkopf and finally the Galinakopf), which also represents the border of Austria/Liechtenstein, at moderate elevation gain. That changed quite a bit after finally reaching it. We followed the ridge/border to the north, heading directly towards the Galinakopf. The last mile (or 1.6 km) was very steep but offered excellent views to the west and south. The thick fog over the valley reminded me of a calm ocean, something you hardly see here in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. After reaching the summit, we spent the first few minutes taking pictures and videos, before setting up the equipment.
View from the ridge
The Summit:
Silver-thistle along the way
There is a big wooden cross at the very top with a register. The north side of the mountain is a big, steep and grassy slope – certainly a dangerous avalanche area in winter. The remaining sides are steep cliffs which should give me a nice take-off angle for my vertical Buddipole antenna. Herbert was setting up his double bazooka (for 40m) and J-pol (for 10m) antennas on an insanely tall fiberglass mast. I was setting up my vertical Buddipole close to the abyss.
Our 'antenna-farm' on the summit
Within a few minutes, we had our rigs going, Herbert his ICOM 706MK2G on a LIFEPO4 (12 Ah) and I my Yaesu FT-817ND with my foldable solar panel. Within minutes I experienced a pile-up using Herbert’s rig with 100 W on 40m, something I had never experienced in previous WØ activations. I had my hands full answering the stations – the foreign call-signs did not make it any easier for me. After the first wave was over, I left Hebert take over his own rig and retreated to my 5 W rig.
OE9HRV is heating up the air-waves
Normally I operate on 20m but shortly before I left for Europe I talked to Chris (W6HFP) from Buddipole by phone who recommended to try the 10m band. So I tuned the antenna to 28.385 Mhz for the first time ever – not sure what to expect. My second CQ call was answered by VE2JCW – that’s over 6000 km (or close to 4000 miles). I was stunned and excited at the same time since I never expected such distances on just 5W. But it got even better… the next two QSOs were with N4EX and
Working on 40m (Photo by OE9HRV)
WA2USA (two very active SOTA chasers in the US), both over 7000 km (or ~4500 miles) afar. It does not get better than that. It turned out to be a perfect day in every respect. With the day progressing, the light got better as well and offered lots of opportunities to take pictures of the 360 degrees of unobstructed mountain views with the thick fog still hanging in the valley well below us – not really a motivator to leave this slice of heaven.
The Descent:
Heading down (Photo by OE9HRV)
After spending four hours on the summit, it began to get colder and we still had quite a hike in front of us. At 16:30 we started to pack up our gear and headed down. Not paying attention, we made a unplanned detour on very steep ground just a few meters below the summit. After climbing back up, we started to pay closer attention to the trail and finally made it back to the car after a two hour hike. Herbert dropped me off at my QTH – just in time to have a shower and make my dinner appointment. It was an exceptional day… a great hike and amazing conditions for a SOTA activation – Thanks Herbert!
Some video impressions:
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiEe9nKAneM
If you would like to leave questions or comments, please do so through Youtube.
!! WARNING !! There are old mountaineers, and
bold mountaineers… there are no old-bold mountaineers.
Hiking and mountain climbing are potentially hazardous activities particularly in Colorado with its extreme elevations. I am not accepting responsibility for any death or injury resulting from activations based on my trip reports. Proper training, experience, and personal capability assessment is required – enjoy!
Date: 15 October 2011
Time: Approx. 12:00 UTC
Location: Lichtenstein/Austria Border
Summit : Galinakopf (OE/VB-287) – 2198 M / 7211 ft – 8 Pts.
Call Sign: KØMOS/OE
Frequencies: 28.385-ssb,14.3425-ssb (+/-QRM)
Equipment: FT-817ND / vertical dipole (Buddipole)
Matt / KØMOS
!! WARNING !! There are old mountaineers, and
bold mountaineers… there are no old-bold mountaineers.
Hiking and mountain climbing are potentially hazardous activities particularly in Colorado with its extreme elevations. I am not accepting responsibility for any death or injury resulting from activations based on my trip reports. Proper training, experience, and personal capability assessment is required – enjoy!
The weather forecast for today was not too good. Therefore I was looking for another SOTA peak nearby. The ‘Geißkopf’,or OE/VB-5Ø4, fit the bill. The ‘Geißkopf’ is part of the ‘Bödele‘, the landmark mountain of Dornbirn, the largest city in the state of Vorarlberg (Austria). There is a great public transportation system which can get you up there. Since SOTA rules demand that I get to the summit human powered (at least the last 150 ft of elvation), I started out well before the ‘Bödele Pass – 3789 ft / 1155 m‘. Even-though there is a bus stop at the pass, that might not result in the required elevation gain from here. Three bus stops (Dornbirn Langwies) before the pass seemed to be a good fit and served as my trail-head. From here it is possible to hike through the woods for the most part and avoid the busy road. Due to the foggy weather, I have only limited pictures/videos.
Trailhead: 3030 ft / 924 m
Summit: 3930 ft / 1198 m
Elev. gain: 1447 ft / 441 m
Roundtrip: 4.2 mi / 6.7 km
How to get there:
As mentioned earlier you have choices, take a car or take public transportation.
Just follow the signs
Take the ‘Bödele-Strasse’ (or L48 ) from Dornbirn or take the Bus line 38 (Dornbirn -Bödele – Schwarzenberg – Bezau) which leaves every 30 minutes, starting at the Dornbirn Railway Station. Park or get out of the Bus at ‘Dornbirn Langwies‘. The trail you are looking for is just a few feet behind the bus-stop – leading south and finally parallels the road.
Red Tape:
This area is a popular local recreation area and finding a parking spot might be difficult, specially on week-ends and/or sunny weather.
The Ascent:
There is not a lot to report. It’s a very moderate trail leading directly to the Bödele-Pass (yes, there is a Restaurant). Cross the road to the parking lot. On the north side starts the trail down through a moor and then up through some settlements to the Geißkopf (which you can see from the parking lot). There are no challenges along the way, its a well established trail and there are no doubts when it comes to navigating the area.
The Summit:
There is a wooden cross at the highest point (as on most summits in this area) with a wooden bench. Nice for a picnic or to setup your radio. Since the weather was kind of foggy/cloudy (hard to say where the fog stopped and the clouds started) nobody else claimed the summit or the bench. Setting up the antenna for 20 m was easy with the soft, grassy ground (for the pegs) and the available topography. There is enough space for several antennas, in case you are looking for joint activation. Shortly after the antenna was
Perfect SWR
up and tuned, the fog rolled in heavily, resulting in chilly temperatures. The scarce sun-rays could not penetrate the fog anymore. My first QSO was DH3RB (Ruediker), a station at the Danish/German border, using a Buddipole configuration as well. Apparently he had seen some of my Youtube videos before and was quite excited to catch me on the air. The remaining QSO’s were with stations in Austria, Greece, England, Bulgaria, Finland and Spain. After 16 QSOs in ~30 minutes, I was happy go pack up my gear due to the chilly temperatures. I am not used to this kind of cold in high humidity.
The Descent:
It was a quick descent down the same trail, through the moor and to a nearby parking lot where I had a pick-up shuttle, getting me down to the valley for a nice glass (or two) of ‘Glühwein‘ and cookies.
Some video impressions:
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nLgDlCQtbM
If you would like to leave questions or comments, please do so through Youtube.
!! WARNING !! There are old mountaineers, and
bold mountaineers… there are no old-bold mountaineers.
Hiking and mountain climbing are potentially hazardous activities particularly in Colorado with its extreme elevations. I am not accepting responsibility for any death or injury resulting from activations based on my trip reports. Proper training, experience, and personal capability assessment is required – enjoy!
I visited Europe for a couple of weeks and took my radio equipment with me to do some SOTA activations. The next few trip-reports summarize my Austrian SOTA activations. BTW, clicking onto a picture included in this trip-report will show you a larger version.
For my first activation, I was looking for a summit with easy access. I wanted to make sure I have everything with me before heading into the mountains. I found the perfect SOTA summit for my requirements during my time in Austria/Vorarlberg. OE/VB-512 was just a few miles from my temporary QTH and there even is a gondola going from Bregenz (the capital of Vorarlberg) to the very top. Bregenz is delightfully located on the shore of Lake Constance (one of Europes largest lakes) and is probably most famous for it’s summer music festival that features an opera on a open-air /floating stage. Even James Bond could not resist to visit the opera in his quest to rescue the world, in his movie ‘Quantum of Solace‘.
I decided to take the gondola – which leaves close to the lake shore – and take a short detour downhills in order to satisfy SOTA rules, instead of hiking all the way up.
Trailhead: 1374 ft / 419 m
Summit: 3491 ft / 1064 m
Elev. gain: 2117 ft / 645 m
Roundtrip: 5.5 mi / 8.9 km
How to get there:
Goto the harbour in Bregenz. There is a roundabout with a sign directing you to the base station of the Gondola. If you arrive by train, it’s a short 15 minute walk from the train-station.
Red Tape:
The Pfänder cable car operates daily from 8 AM to 7 PM. It is closed however for an annual audit, so make sure you check their website or call ahead. There is a fee of about € 11.00 for a round-trip. You can check their rates on their website also.
The Ascent:
Since I took the easy way up, there is not a lot to report. The ride to the top lasts about six minutes in a large gondola with panoramic views. Make sure to get the to the window (lake facing) quickly to get the best view on your ride up the mountain.
View from the Summit
The summit:
First of all I had to hike downhills for a while to be in line with SOTA regulations. After coming back up to the gondola station, it is a another few minutes to the very top of the Pfänder. This is not a good location for setting up the radio equipment due to its size and popularity with all the tourists/visitors. It does however provide stunning views across Lake Constance, the Swiss, Austrian, German and Lichtenstein alps (assuming clear weather). Even-though it was a week-day, it was very crowded and I started to miss the solitude of the Rocky Mountains.
My Buddipole competing with the Radiotower
The summit is quite large, providing several restaurants within a few minutes of walking and a huge radio tower!!! I started to setup my equipment about 60 m from the tower and was wondering whether all the RF flying around would even give me a chance to get out. My back-up plan was an activation on 2m and I had my little HT programmed with the Pfänder repeater frequencies to announce my presence. Unfortunately I was not able to open the repeater, which seemed strange to me at such a short distance (I learned later that the repeater was out of order). It took me unusually long to get the antenna and radio up and ready. For the first time I carried a small antenna analyzer (IP30) with me to get the antenna resonant… but no matter what I tried I could not even get close to an SWR acceptable for transmission – at least that is what the analyzer indicated. I finally ignored the analyzer and hooked up my FT-817, which was quite happy with the antenna. I guess the RF cloud from the radio tower overwhelmed the IP30.
KØMOS/OE calling CQ on 20m
My first response to my CQ SOTA on 20m came from OE9HRV (Herbert) and my second contact was OE9GWI (Gerhard), both residents of Bregenz – a whopping 3 miles from my current location. As is turns out, both of them are very active SOTA activators / chasers. Both contacts turned into very reliable chasers during my time in Austria and Herbert was a very knowledgeable source for all SOTA summits ‘im Ländle‘ Vorarlberg. He even invited me to a very memorable activation of the Galinakopf (OE/VB-287) – report/video will follow. The remaining contacts were to Austria (no surprise), England, Greece, Spain and Canada (VE1WT) – 3413 mi / 5493 km on 20m with 5W into my Buddipole – not bad for the first day. I was quite happy with the results and the activation. Since the sun was slowly setting, I was packing up to take more photographs and to catch the last gondola.
The view to the eastAnother view from the summit
The Descent:
The descent in the gondola was certainly a treat – great views across the lake and Bregenz for six minutes :)
Some video impressions:
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uN4Bl-6NyGw
If you would like to leave questions or comments, please do so through Youtube.
!! WARNING !! There are old mountaineers, and
bold mountaineers… there are no old-bold mountaineers.
Hiking and mountain climbing are potentially hazardous activities particularly in Colorado with its extreme elevations. I am not accepting responsibility for any death or injury resulting from activations based on my trip reports. Proper training, experience, and personal capability assessment is required – enjoy!
Date: 12 October 2011
Time: Approx. 11:00 UTC
Location: Western Austria
Summit : Geißkopf(OE/VB-504) – 1198 m / 3930 ft – 4 Points
Call Sign: KØMOS/OE
Frequencies: 14.3425-ssb / 7.165-ssb (+/-QRM)
Equipment: FT-817ND / vertical dipole (Buddipole)
!! WARNING !! There are old mountaineers, and
bold mountaineers… there are no old-bold mountaineers.
Hiking and mountain climbing are potentially hazardous activities particularly in Colorado with its extreme elevations. I am not accepting responsibility for any death or injury resulting from activations based on my trip reports. Proper training, experience, and personal capability assessment is required – enjoy!
Date: 11 October 2011
Time: Approx. 12:30 UTC
Location: Austria
Summit : Pfänder (OE/VB-512) – 1064 m / 3491 ft – 4 Points
Call Sign: KØMOS/OE
Frequencies: 14.3425-ssb / 7.285-ssb (+/-QRM)
Equipment: FT-817ND / vertical dipole (Buddipole)
Matt / KØMOS
!! WARNING !! There are old mountaineers, and
bold mountaineers… there are no old-bold mountaineers.
Hiking and mountain climbing are potentially hazardous activities particularly in Colorado with its extreme elevations. I am not accepting responsibility for any death or injury resulting from activations based on my trip reports. Proper training, experience, and personal capability assessment is required – enjoy!
Twin Sisters Peak East (WØC/FR-Ø37) is located at the border of Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP) and the Roosevelt National Forest, just a few short miles south from Estes Park. There is a new trail-head which is not marked on the relatively old USGS maps. The trail eventually joins the one on the map. The weather forecast was excellent (temps near record highs) – what a difference a week can make. During last week’s activation of Ypsilon Mountain (WØC/FR-ØØ9) in the same area we had single digits temperature (5-10 F or ~minus 20C) compared to upper 70s (20-25 C) today. What made the trip even more enjoyable was the company of my wife.
Trailhead: 9192 ft / 2386 m
Summit: 11404 ft / 3476 m
Elev. gain: 2939 ft / 896 m
Roundtrip: 7.0 mi / 11.3
How to get there:
Take US34 from Loveland towards Estes Park through Big Thompson Canyon. In Estes Park, take Highway 7 (S St. Vrain Avenue) to the Lily Lake area. The approx. seven mile drive is very scenic and represents the Estes Park area very well. Between mile-marker 6 and 7 (just across Lily Lake) take a left (east), bypass the visitor center and follow the dirt road up the mountain until the road ends. There is parking on the right side of the road only. Everything is marked very clearly and easy to find.
Red Tape:
There are no fees, even-though the trail crosses RMNP area. No dogs are allowed on the trail.
The Ascent:
The Trail-head
The official trail-head is about 0.5 miles from the parking area on an old logging road with the usual trail-head signs and posters. From there, the well maintained trail leads in and out of NP land through a uniform (boring?) lodgepole forest with only scarce views of the surrounding mountains. The lodgepole pines are eventually replaced by fir and spruce trees and patches of Aspens. Thanks to last week’s cold weather pattern, the leaves were already turning golden, creating a very
Aspens in full fall colors
nice contrasts in the early morning sun. The higher we climbed, the better the view of nearby Longspeak (14259 ft / 4346 m), Mt. Meeker (13911 ft / 4240 m) and Estes Cone (11006 ft / 3355 m). After reaching the treeline at approx 11000 ft / 3350 m, the Twin Sisters Peaks are visible for the first time. The trail above the treeline leads over a barren, exposed scree-laden path to the saddle between the West and East peak. Either summit can be easily reached. The last 30 ft elevation to the east peak requires some scrambling.
The Summit:
Besides the unobstructed views, the summit also provides comfortable and wind-sheltered space to setup the equipment. There is ample space for several SOTA teams if necessary.
View of Longspeak and Mt. Meeker from the summit
We had the summit exclusively for ourselves for about an hour. Then, the hikers started to come in thick and heavy. The number of established contacts was disappointing on 20m as well as 40m and 2m. I just made five contacts on the three bands even though the conditions were not bad at all.
The Descent:
After about two hours on the warm and sunny summit we descended the same way we came up.
Some video impressions:
If you would like to leave questions or comments, please do so through Youtube.
!! WARNING !! There are old mountaineers, and
bold mountaineers… there are no old-bold mountaineers.
Hiking and mountain climbing are potentially hazardous activities particularly in Colorado with its extreme elevations. I am not accepting responsibility for any death or injury resulting from activations based on my trip reports. Proper training, experience, and personal capability assessment is required – enjoy!
Date: 25 September 2011
Time: Approx. 1800 UTC – 1900 UTC
Location: N-Colorado
Elevation: 3476 m / 11404 ft – 6 Points
Call Sign: KØMOS/qrp
Frequencies: 14.3200-ssb alt. frequency: 14.285-ssb (+/-QRM)
145.52-FM
Equipment: FT-817ND / vertical dipole (Buddipole)
Keep your ears/antennas pointed towards Colorado.
Thanks
Matt / KØMOS
!! WARNING !! There are old mountaineers, and
bold mountaineers… there are no old-bold mountaineers.
Hiking and mountain climbing are potentially hazardous activities particularly in Colorado with its extreme elevations. I am not accepting responsibility for any death or injury resulting from activations based on my trip reports. Proper training, experience, and personal capability assessment is required – enjoy!
Ypsilon Mountain (WØC/FR-ØØ9) is located in Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP) and is part of the Mummy Range. The Mummy Range is a sub-range of the Front-Range of the Rocky Mountains and consists of six 13’ers (and a slew of lower ones). Starting with Mount Chapin in the south-west, it arcs to the north-east and ends with Signal Mountain. Some of the more prominent peaks are also SOTA summits. Ypsilon Mtn. was first activated about a month ago by N7UN (Guy) – here is his activation report.
The trip was planned for Sunday and we got the first snow-fall of the season on the Wednesday before. Thus, the access road to the trail-head was closed by the Park-Service on Thursday but re-opened on Friday. The weather forecast was great for Sunday, and even better – my wife was going to join me on this trip as well – all signs pointed towards a great trip.
The original plan was to activate Fairchild Mountain (WØC/FR-Ø1Ø – 4115 m / 13502 ft) which is just a mile or two from Ypsilon Mountain. However, after reaching the steep ridge joining Ypsilon and Fairchild Mountain we reconsidered the plan for safety reasons. The amount of snow and ice on the ridge combined with the high winds (30-40 mi/h) made us abandon the plan and we climbed Ypsilon Mtn. instead.
The first few peaks in the south-west of the Mummy Range can be reached from the Chapin Pass trail-head.
Trailhead: 11041 ft / 3365 m
Summit: 13514 ft / 4119 m
Elev. gain: 3019 ft / 920 m
Roundtrip: 7.34 mi / 11.8 km
How to get there:
Take US34 from Loveland to Estes Park through Big Thompson Canyon. In Estes Park, stay on US34 and enter RMNP through Fall River Entrance Station. Just after Sheep Lakes, take a right onto Old Fall River Road – a one way dirt road going all the way up to the RMNP Alpine Visitor Center. The dirt road is in pretty good shape but be careful in some of the switchbacks if you do not have a high-clearance vehicle. Around mile-marker six, the trail-head is on the right side of the road and the car can be parked across the road. Space is limited to 10-12 cars max.
RMNP charges an entrance fee of $20/car (valid for seven consecutive days). The usual passes are accepted as well. For details check their website.
Old Fall River road is a one-way dirt road which is often closed due to adverse weather conditions. You can check the road conditions on this website.
Few parking spots – you have to be early to claim your spot at the TH.
It is high country… weather conditions can change really fast. Afternoon lightning storms are not uncommon in summer.
The Ascent:
The first section of the trail leads through large and mature pine trees. The trail is well established and clearly marked by NP signs. After reaching the treeline, a last sign indicates
To all summits
the direction to reach ALL SUMMITS and the fact that the trail is not maintained beyond the sign. Nevertheless, it is quite easy to follow the rock-slide area to the saddle between Chapin (3795 m/12454 ft) and Chiquita Mountain (3983 m/13069 ft). Here we experienced the first snow on the ground and extreme winds on the saddle. We followed the trail up to the fake summit of Ypsilon Mtn. Walking upright and in a straight line was rough at times – the icy, howling wind felt like a thousand needles in the face and the summit was engulfed in blowing snow and ice crystals. It felt, sounded and looked more like an ascent to Nanga Parbat – but the GPS confirmed that we are still in Colorado. We tried to stay on the contour line leading directly to the ridge between Ypsilon and Fairchilk Mountain to avoid unnecessary elev gain/loss. A trail was no longer available/visible. The rocky and barren surface was covered by wind-pressed snow and ice. On several occasions I sank into deep snow-drifts well above my knees. However, the route is easy to pick – there are no obstacles to navigate.
The Summit:
The summit offers incredible views in all directions. It also provides two stone wind-shelters which were filled with drifting snow and could unfortunately not be used at all – leaving us exposed to the howling winds.
Panoramic view from the summit
Under normal circumstances the summit provides ample space to set up the equipment – however, the low temperatures (~10 to 15 F [-12 to -15 C] ) and high winds (~30-40 mi/h) made my teeth chatter (literally), and taking off the gloves was not something I was looking forward to either. Setting up the equipment for 15-20 minutes under this conditions was just not an option. In order to still be able to activate the summit and claim my SOTA points I used my HT on 146.52 MHz to quickly get some QSO’s. I wrapped it up within 5 minutes on the summit, took a few snapshots, put my gloves back on (trying to get the blood flowing in my fingers again ) and we headed downhills with the wind now in our face.
The Descent:
It was a quick retreat against the wind, following basically the same route. We had not had an opportunity yet to eat lunch, and we were looking for sheltered space. There was nothing until we reached the treeline – it was still cold but getting out of the wind after more than 5 hours was a nice change.
To get back to Estes Park, we had to follow the Old Fall River Road up to the Alpine Visitors Center of the RMNP. From there we took Trail Ridge Road east – a quite scenic drive through the heart of the Rockies.
Some video impressions:
The weather conditions were not ideal to take a lot of photo/video shots. I only have a few clips when the wind was not too bad.
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-K1YZeKOido
If you would like to leave questions or comments, please do so through Youtube.
!! WARNING !! There are old mountaineers, and
bold mountaineers… there are no old-bold mountaineers.
Hiking and mountain climbing are potentially hazardous activities particularly in Colorado with its extreme elevations. I am not accepting responsibility for any death or injury resulting from activations based on my trip reports. Proper training, experience, and personal capability assessment is required – enjoy!
!! WARNING !! There are old mountaineers, and
bold mountaineers… there are no old-bold mountaineers.
Hiking and mountain climbing are potentially hazardous activities particularly in Colorado with its extreme elevations. I am not accepting responsibility for any death or injury resulting from activations based on my trip reports. Proper training, experience, and personal capability assessment is required – enjoy!
