Date: 15 January 2012
Time: Approx.: 1930 UTC – 2030 UTC
Location: N-Colorado / DN70ej
Elevation: 3046 M / 10013 ft – 4 (+3) Point(s)
Call Sign: KØMOS
Frequencies: 14.340-ssb +/- QRM / alt. freq.: 14.285-ssb
QRP (5W) only.
Equip.: FT-817 and vertical Buddipole
Keep your ears/antennas pointed towards Colorado.
!! 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!
Eagle Cliff Mountain (WØC/FR-068) is part of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains – just six miles south of Estes Park, right at the border to Rocky Mountain N.P. (the summit is within RMNP). There is no official trail up to the summit, but it seems to be a popular hike based on the faint network of trails. The ascent can be tackled from either County Road 66 (south slope) or from the RMNP side (NW slope via Moraine Park/Museum parking lot). I have chosen the south side of the mountain because I wanted to activate Emerald Mountain (WØC/FR-Ø58) as well (see separate trip-report) – Emerald Mountain is just a few miles up the road and thus the two make an ideal pair for a double activation. Both hikes are relatively short in terms of miles, but steep. The drive up the Big Thompson Canyon took a little longer than usual due to the fact that the road was still snow-covered with icy spots in some areas. When I exited the canyon near Estes Park, the sky was blue and no cloud was in sight – a welcome indicator for a great day ahead.
Trailhead: 7836 ft / 2388 m
Summit: 8906 ft / 2709 m
Elev. gain: 1216 ft / 371 m
Roundtrip: 2.3 mi / 3.7 km
How to get there: Take US34 from Loveland towards Estes Park through Big Thompson Canyon. Eagle Cliff Mountain is on the south-west side of Estes Park. Stay on US34 towards Rocky Mountain NP. turn left onto County Road 66 (or Tunnel Road), following the signs to the YMCA campus. The TH is right after you pass the ‘Dunraven Inn‘ on the right side of the road. There is a small dirt road with a metal-gate… you have to be very creative in finding a parking spot for your car (see Red Tape). If you pass the gate to the YMCA, you have gone too far.
A better option (in terms of parking ) might be to take US-34 into RMNP, then continue towards Moraine Park and park on the Museum parking lot.
Eagle Cliff Mtn. is within RMNP – therefore all their rules and regulations apply. RMNP is also a fee area. You don’t have to pay the fee when coming from CR-66 because you will be parking outside of the regular park entrance. If you choose to tackle the summit over the NW-slope, you have to go through the regular entrance and pay the day fee ($20.00).
Parking near/along CR66 (Tunnel road) is difficult. All the signs along the gravel strips on the right side of the road are indicating private property, and promise to tow your car.
From CR-66 I hiked west, passing the metal gate on the dirt-road. Two bridges lead over two creeks before the path intersects a trail leading into RMNP (Bear Lake Road). There is private property on your left and right, so make sure to respect the signs. As expected and hoped, most of the snow had already melted away and snow-shoes were not necessary. The ascent is straightforward, with hardly any challenges. You can (almost) see the summit from the base of the mountain and you just aim for it. Pick one of the faint trails through the grassy/brushy and steep slope – all of them seem to end up at the same slightly wooded area in the saddle just below the summit. I tried to stay more on the rocky-section of the mountain (south-west). There are a few rock-outcroppings you have to circumnavigate or, if you feel up to it, you can scramble/climb up with a few easy moves. This route provides mostly unobstructed views into RMNP all the way to the summit.
The Summit:
EagleCliff Mtn. – Operating from the Summit
There is a steep cliff (~60 feet / 20 m) on the north-side of the summit, giving you a great take-off angle. The views are really spectacular – I know… I say that a lot… and it is always true but in this case you can not only see the massive mountains of the Mummy Range, Never Summer Mountains etc. but you can also look down into the Moraine Park area of RMNP. A rather unique view, giving a great impression of the power of the ancient glaciers. There are plenty of rocks and trees to guy the antenna (and I needed a well guyed antenna due to the winds), and within a few minutes I was calling CQ. I logged my first QSO with Rick (N4EX) @ 1730 UTC. It was my first time on 15m and my Buddipole antenna (vertical Versatee) seemed to perform well on this band. In addition to my regular chasers, I met a few new SOTA chasers on this band. I changed to 20m a little later on, since not all of my ‘regulars’ could copy me on 15m.
The Descent:
I took basically the same route back to the car, hoping that it hadn’t been towed. The descent was very enjoyable and I went rather slow to enjoy the views.
Some video impressions:
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCHxwXusMvs
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!
This was a re-activation for me. If you are looking for all the details on how to get there and other useful info, you can find the original trip-report with the necessary details right here. This post has only a few specifics from today’s activation.
Emerald Mtn. – View from the summit
Today’s activation of Emerald Mtn. was my second summit of the day. Earlier I had activated Eagle Cliff Mtn. (WØC/FR-Ø58 ) on 15 and 20m (see separate trip-report) . Since Emerald Mtn. is just a few miles up the road and the weather was gorgeous, a double activation was an obvious choice. With my earlier acquired information about the trail-head and route, the ascent was a breeze. The south slope was almost snow free and snow-shoes were not required. Without the snow I could even find a small stone cairn on the trail to Glacier Basin campground. The cairn is just before you enter an Aspen grove and after a rock outcropping. That’s where I left the trail and headed towards the summit in an (almost) straight line. Distance and elevation gain is almost identical to Eagle Cliff Mountain, making today’s excursion a 4.5 mi (7.2 km) round-trip with a total of ~2500 ft (750 m) accumulated elevation gain.
Luckily, the S8 noise I experienced last time on this summit was gone – making me believe that it was related to the approaching snow-storm. The winds however were quite strong – even stronger than last time and I had to guy the antenna really well. My extremities started to get cold thanks to the high winds and the fact that I was sitting in the snow – even-though the sun was out. I packed-up my gear and went QRT after I did not get any further responses to my calls. It was indeed a wonderful day in the mountains.
Some video impressions:
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pW6KmzYLnOc
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!
Trying a double activation for tomorrow. Here the details:
Date: 10 January 2012
Time: Approx.: 1730 UTC – 1830 UTC
Location: N-Colorado / DN70fi
Elevation: 2709 m / 8888 ft – 2 Point(s)
Call Sign: KØMOS
Frequencies: 21.330-ssb +/- QRM / alt. freq.: 21.350-ssb and 14.3425-ssb +/- QRM / alt. freq.: 14.285-ssb
If everything goes according to plan, I am gonna try W0C/FR-058 (Emerald Mtn) as well. Here the details:
Date: 10 January 2012
Time: Approx.: 2000 UTC – 2100 UTC
Location: N-Colorado / DN70eh
Elevation: 2810 m / 9219 ft – 4 (+3) Point(s)
Call Sign: KØMOS
Frequencies: 14.3425-ssb +/- QRM / alt. freq.: 14.285-ssb
Keep your ears/antennas pointed towards Colorado.
!! 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!
This was a re-activation for me. If you are looking for all the details on how to get there and other useful info, you can find the original trip-report with the necessary details right here. This post has only a few specifics from today’s activation.
Estes Cone: View of RMNP from the summit
After two days of high winds here in northern Colorado (I clocked 45 mph winds in my back yard – the news reported even higher winds in the mountains of up to 75 mph gusts) the weather forecast for today was excellent. I woke up to 17 degrees F (~minus 8 C) and blue skies. Since everybody in the family had the day off, I was joined by my wife and my daughter – making this a fun family affair. We left the house at nine o’clock with the goal of being at the trail-head of Estes Cone by 10, and on the air by noon local time (or 1900UTC). That’s how I announced my activation on SOTAwatch.org. Since today was a federal holiday, traffic was minimal and the mostly dry roads allowed me to pass through Big Thompson Canyon rather quickly. Nevertheless, we arrived at the TH 15 minutes later as expected because I underestimated the time it took to drive from Estes Park to the trail-head.
Estes Cone: On the way up
Determined to keep my ‘appointment’ on the summit, I shouldered my pack and headed towards the mountain – splitting up our ‘activation team’. My seven year-old cannot yet keep up with me in deep snow and we planned to re-join later somewhere on the trail after the activation.
There were two chances for an S2S contact today, one with VA2OTA on HF and the other with KF6LHX (Tim) who was activating WØC/PR-Ø14 near Breckenridge on VHF – that’s only 70 miles (~115 km), I covered larger distances on my HT before. On my way up, I was able to copy KT5E on 2m saying:”Your are Summits on the what?” and knew immediately that Tim was OTA. I was unable to contact him directly however. I was still in the valley and surrounded by trees and mountains. I contacted KT5E and he relayed my message to Tim. By the time I arrived on ‘my’ summit he had already moved on – you can’t stay too long at 14236 ft (4339 m) in winter.
Photo by Tim – KF6LHX
You can find Tim’s trip-report on the SOTA reflector and see Tim’s PQL (Personal QSO Logger) shivering at high elevation on the right. Back home I learned that VA2OTA’s activation was cancelled due to bad weather – so that took care of all the S2S contacts possibilities for today.
Today I looked a little closer at the topography between Quandary Peak and Estes Cone to see whether a contact would have been feasible… it does not look promising (see below):
Estes Cone: LOS to Quandary Peak (click for larger view)
It took me an hour and 45 minutes to hike the three miles (~4.5 km) and 2000 ft (~600 m) of elevation through about two feet of (mostly) packed snow. I reached the summit at 11006 ft (3348 m) on-time and logged my first QSO at 19:00 UTC. The wind was blowing pretty strongly and I setup my equipment under the same rock formation than last time – about 30 feet below the summit. That blocked my signal towards the East and South-East but made the high winds a lot more bearable. The views from up here are spectacular. Longs Peak (4344 m / 14255 ft ) and Mt.Meeker (4240 m / 13911 ft ) at a close range (~4 miles / 6.5 km as the crows fly) and the snow-covered Mummy Range with several 13000+ ft (~4000 m) summits towards the NNW are all within view. On the other side, one can spot beautiful Lily Lake and in the distance Estes Park.
I tuned the antenna for 17m and started calling CQ. N4EX (Rick) was the first who answered my call on HF and he spotted me as well (thanks Rick). I was forced to move to another frequency after my 12th QSO since some other HAM’s decided to settle on ‘my’ frequency – they did not react to any of my calls and I could not get any other contacts on 17m. Since my extremities started to feel cold, I was tempted to wrap it up and head out of the cold wind. Instead, I opted to give it a try on 20m and re-tuned the antenna, looked for a free frequency and started to announce my presence… no takers after five minutes on this band… time to pack-up and move my body to get warm.
Estes Cone: In the woods
I was pretty much running/sliding down the south-westerly facing route to catch-up with the rest of the family. I found them just below the saddle, singing Christmas songs while trudging through the trees on their snow-shoes.
I was a perfect day in the mountains and it felt great to burn some of the calories which had accumulated around my waist over the holidays – too bad I could not reach Tim for a S2S.
Some video Impressions: httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFeMLIAqpdA
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: 2 January 2012
Time: Approx.: 1900 UTC – 2000 UTC
Location: N-Colorado / DN70fh
Elevation: 3348 M / 11006 ft – 6 +(3) Point(s)
Call Sign: KØMOS
Frequencies: 14.285-ssb and 18.157-ssb +/- QRM
QRP (5W) only. I will start on 17m, changing to 20m later.
Equip.: FT-817 and vertical Buddipole
Keep your ears/antennas pointed towards Colorado.
!! 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: 26 December 2011
Time:Approx.: 1930 UTC – 2030 UTC
Location: N-Colorado / DN70hi
Elevation: 2824 M / 9284 ft – 4+(3) Point(s)
Call Sign: KØMOS
Frequencies: 7.285-ssb +/- QRM
14.285-ssb
QRP (5W) only. Starting on 40m
Equip.: FT-817 and vertical 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!
I got up at 6:00 AM this morning, facing a moderate 18 degrees F (approx. -8C) and clear skies outside – just a sliver of the moon and clouds over Longs Peak towards the west. A winter storm warning was issued for later in the day, but I thought I had enough time to activate WØC/FR-Ø58 (Emerald Mountain). The dogs were not too excited to go for a walk in the dark and at these freezing temperatures – but I guess they were relieved that they did not have to join me on the mountain.
The drive up through Thomson Canyon followed the frozen river all the way up to Estes Park. Entering Estes Park through US34 always presents a perfect overview of the surrounding mountains. Even though I was still driving under clear skies, clouds were settling in the mountains in every direction – guess the weather forecast had not lying.
Trailhead: 8244 ft / 2513 m
Summit: 9237 ft / 2810 m
Elev. gain: 1245 ft / 380 m
Roundtrip: 2.2 mi / 3.5 km
How to get there: Take US34 from Loveland towards Estes Park through Big Thompson Canyon. Emerald Mountain is on the south-west side of Estes Park. Stay on US34 towards Rocky Mountain NP. Go left on County Road 66 (or Tunnel Road), following the signs to the YMCA campus. Follow the road all the way to the end. There is a campground at the very end – so is the East Portal of the Big Thompson Project Pipeline. Park your car at the loop of the road (there is room for about 10 cars on a gravel strip at the south side of the loop.
At the East Portal of the Big Thompson Project Pipeline is a small (really small) reservoir – and the surrounding area is Federal property. You are not supposed to park, fish, boat, pee etc. within 100 yards of the dam – Homeland security and such. Emerald Mountain is – at least partially – within the RMNP, ergo it is a fee area and their rules apply (no dogs etc.) I am not sure about RMNP entry fees… since the trail starts outside of the park, I think you are not required to have a NP pass. I have a yearly pass anyway and did not investigate this aspect so far.
The Ascent:
Elevation Profile
I selected the south face of the mountain for my ascent. It can be tackled from almost any side but I was hoping that the south would have less snow compared to the other options. In addition, for part of the way I could use a trail going from the East Portal TH to the Glacier Basin campground in RMNP. I just passed the reservoir of the East Portal when I realized I forgot my camera in the car… so I turned around to get it. That is when I broke my sun-glasses… not that I needed them today but still… #$@%. Walking back to the reservoir, snow flurries started to fall and a stiff wind came up from the west. I continued the road uphills when a Jeep drove towards me, driving downhills but backwards? It was Sam, a RMNP Ranger patrolling ‘his’ park. We talked for almost half an hour. He was very interested in SOTA and I was interested in his insider’s know-how of all the different routes to SOTA summits in the park and around Estes Park. We finally parted ways and I headed uphills in a (almost) straight line, trying to make up for lost time to keep my appointment on the summit. Luckily the south face was almost snow free – even better, the soil was frozen and I made good time. Every now and then, I could even see a faint trail going up the mountain.
The Summit: The summit is rather small. I pretty much used up most of the space with my antenna guy-lines. It could host two small teams of activators. There are some rocks which can provide shelter from the wind – unfortunately the lee side was filled in with a deep snow drift. I had about six inches of snow on the top with some clear areas under (Christmas) trees – I claimed this spot immediately as my operating position.
Operating position
Setting up the equipment and antenna took a little longer than usual – fiddling with Buddipole coil-taps with cold fingers is not easy. I did not want to drop one into the snow. Turned on the SWR analyzer and…. nothing… lets hope it is just an empty battery. So I had to use the internal meter of the FT-817. Turned on the radio on 20m and I experienced S8 noise throughout the band… I am used to S8-S9 noise at home but on a summit? No clue why… I had activated several summits nearby and never before had an issue on 20. Two adjustments to the counterpoise and I was on the air, calling CQ 20 minutes ahead of plan. The temperature was below freezing and the wind ~15-20 mph (guesstimate). There was a small blue cloud and the sun tried to peak out every now and then but finally gave up, overwhelmed.
Thanks to the high noise level, I could only hear strong stations. After 12 contacts on 20m in 25 minutes I had to wrap it up. My feet and hands started to get uncomfortably cold and I was shivering.
The Descent: Soon after leaving the summit it got warmer. Getting out of the wind and moving my body certainly felt good. I soon found a faint trail and followed it all the way down directly to the car – a route I would recommend to the next activator.
Some video impressions: httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcCG2f8j5og
If you would like to leave questions or comments, please do so through Youtube.
I activated this summit again on January 10th, 2012. You can find the trip-report right here.
!! 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: 21 December 2011
Time: Approx.: 1800 UTC – 1900 UTC
Location: N-Colorado
Elevation: 2810 m / 9219 ft – 4+(3) Point(s)
Call Sign: KØMOS
Frequencies: 14.345-ssb +/- QRM // alt. freq. 14.285-ssb
QRP (5W) only.
Keep your ears/antennas pointed towards Colorado.
!! 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: 17 December 2011
Time: Approx.: 1730 UTC – 1830 UTC
Location: N-Colorado
Elevation: 3135 m / 10305 ft – 4+(3) Point(s)
Call Sign: KØMOS
Frequencies: 28.835-ssb +/- QRM and 14.3425-ssb +/- QRM
QRP only. I will start on 10m and change to 20 later if necessary
If conditions are favorable, I will move on to a second summit nearby. This one has no trail and it is another bushwhacking trip. Success will largely depend on snow situation.
W0C/FR-146 (East White Pine Mountain).
Date: 17 December 2011
Time: Approx.: 2030 UTC – 2130 UTC
Location: N-Colorado
Elevation: 3117 m / 10226 ft – 4+(3) Point(s)
Call Sign: KØMOS
Frequencies: 14.3425-ssb +/- QRM
Equipment: FT-817ND / Buddipole versatee vertical
Keep your ears/antennas pointed towards Colorado.
!! 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!
