SOTA outings by KØMOS and contributors

Tag: Buddipole antenna

  • A rare SOTA gem

    I just wrapped up a trip in Europe and I could not resist to activate a few summits while I had the chance. Staying in Austria (OE), I was able to activate two nearby and new (for me) associations (HBØ and HB). I also took the opportunity to make a second attempt on HBØ/LI-ØØ4 – Augstenberg. This summit eluded me last year due to extreme winds in excess of 100 km/h (60 mph). We had to turn around shortly before reaching the summit. This time the WX forecast looked more promising.

    As usual, Herbert/OE9HRV organized the activations when I visit his neck of the woods. Arno/OE9AMJ and Ramon/OE9CSH joined the activation and what these guys had in store for me was quite a trip. Weather and time permitting they were planning to continue on a loop with the possibility to activate three more summits for a total of four. The best part…   HBØ/LI-ØØ2 or Naafkopf was one of them. This unique SOTA summit is a rare gem. The border of three countries, Lichtenstein (HBØ), Switzerland (HB) and Austria (OE) meet exactly at the summit and it is therefore worth 30 SOTA points in total. I am not aware of any other SOTA summit which has a similar setting.

    Panorama from the summit station
    Panorama from the summit station

    The complete trip could potentially rake in a total of 58 points on a ~20 km (12.5 mi) loop with 1700+ m (~5600 ft) elevation gain including two new associations for my log. Needless to say that I was motivated :)

    This trip report is focused on the Naafkopf only.

    The route we took in red
    The route we took in red
     Trailhead:  5243 ft / 1598 m
 Summit:     7740 ft / 2359 m (Augstenberg)  
             8432 ft / 2570 m (Naafkopf) 
             6860 ft / 2091 m (Nospitz)
 Elev. gain: 4832 ft / 1473 m (exludes gondola - hiking only)
 Roundtrip:  10.2 mi / 16.4 km(exludes gondola - hiking only)


    Compare this summit with my other activated summits

    How to get there:

    OE9HRV & OE9AMJ
    OE9HRV & OE9AMJ

    We headed south from OE towards the Principality of Liechtenstein (or Liechtenstein for short.) Liechtenstein is a rather small independent country near the Lake of Constance and shares the border with Switzerland and Austria. With an area of just over 160 square kilometers (62 sq mi), it has a population of ~35’000 and a total of eleven SOTA summits – all of them already activated. We started our hike in Malbun, the only ski resort in Lichtenstein.

    Parking/Trailhead

    Larger Map

    Red Tape:
    Nothing comes to mind.

    The Ascent:

    Elevation Profile
    Elevation Profile
    That is where we are going
    That is where we are going

    From Malbun we took the gondola from 5274 ft (1608 m) to the Sareiserjoch at 6526 ft (1990 m).  At the top we were greeted by an Alphorn player – a nice touch to start our day – and we could hear her tunes for quite a while across the valley. The first ~2.5 mi (4 km) follows a trail to the Chalbergrad and continues along a very pronounced ridge towards our first summit. Great views in both directions of the ridge. The last 0.4 mile (0.6 km) before HBØ/LI-ØØ4 – Augstenberg, are kind of steep. The summit is a rocky outcropping on a rather large, sloped and green summit. The obligatory cross at the summit served as a backdrop for our first SOTA summit photo of the day.

    Naafkopf -7
    OE9CSH, OE9AMJ, KØMOS, OE9HRV (l to r)

    On the summit we setup two stations, a CW station for Arno/OE9AMJ and an SSB station for the rest of us. No problem to activate a summit on 40m in Europe :)

    Within 40 minutes we all had our contacts logged and were on our way to the grand prize of the day. Reluctantly we decided to skip Gorfion (OE/VB-241) to allow plenty of operation time on the Naafkopf. In retrospect a wise decision, considering that we reached the car just as the sun went down.

    Haeding towards Pfälzerhütte
    Haeding towards Pfälzerhütte

    From the summit of Augstenberg (2359 m/7740 ft) we had to descend to the saddle, where the Pfälzerhütte is located at 2108 m/6916ft. A great location for having a beer, assuming you have the time… we decided to continue on to the next summit – a 462 m/1516 ft ascent over 1.8 km/1.1 mi. There is still a well defined trail up the steep slope and only one ‘critical’ spot we had to navigate. Some lingering snow from last weeks nasty weather in combination with the steep terrain slowed us down just a bit about halfway up to the summit. After that it was smooth sailing.

    The Summit:

    Setup on the summit:
    Setup on the summit:

    We reached the small summit around 14:00 local time under blue skies and with very comfortable temperatures. An artificial wall built from rocks, ~40 cm/16 in. in height, is dividing the summit along the border lines and building the base for the dominating summit cross. To make it really easy for us, each section of the wall was clearly marked with the name of the country so we would always know where we are :)

    We followed the same procedure as before; Arno setting up a CW station with his FT-817 and an Alex loop, and Hebert setting up the KX-3 with a 20m J-Pole for the SSB crowd. I got the honor to go first and I chose to start on the Swiss (HB) side of the summit – hoping to activate my 10th SOTA association.

    Arno/OE9AMJ on the summit
    Arno/OE9AMJ on the summit

    We took turns on the radio.  Every 15-20 minutes we announced an operator change so we all had the chance to activate every section (association) of the summit. But announcing a summit change after the first hour stirred up some confusion in the chaser community. Changing the operator and the summit within 30 sec. on the same frequency is not very common. A short explanation of the situation kept everybody’s log in sync.

    Taking turns on the summit worked out great, giving me enough time to talk and share stories with other SOTA operators and to take plenty of pictures and video footage of a perfect day.

    The view towards the east with Arno's Alex loop
    The view towards the east with Arno’s Alex loop

    We saved the best for last. With just 11 SOTA summits, Lichtenstein (HBØ) is a rare opportunity for chasers. We changed our antenna for the 15m band, hoping to get across the Atlantic and catch some stations in the US. The plan worked, NA1RL/Richard in Connecticut copied my signal  and so did K2JB/Jimmy and AE4FZ/Chuck both in NC. The highlight for me however was the contact with YC5YZ on Sumatra Island – my first contact with Indonesia :)

    Following my motto ‘always stop when things are at the top‘ I announced another operator change and handed over the mic to Ramon.

    Ramon/OE9CSH on 20m
    Ramon/OE9CSH on 20m

    The Descent:

    Alpine ibex
    Alpine ibex

    We almost had to detach Herbert from the radio by force… as longs as he has some space left in his logbook, he will not quit. But there was another summit beckoning  from the distance. It was already late in the afternoon and a cool breeze forced us to put on another layer for the descent. Arno led the way down.  A herd of Alpine ibex retreated from us and gave us little chance for a decent photo. At the Pfälzerhütte we turned west towards Alp Gritsch. Arno could not believe that we passed up the chance to have a beer, but chose to press on to activate another summit. Luckily he is a great guy and readily admitted that the chance to activate another HBØ summit does not come along everyday for me. I guess I owe him a beer.

    Tälihöhi with Nospitz in the distance
    Tälihöhi with Nospitz in the distance

    We passed by the Alp towards Tälihöhi, the last ridge we had to get over before heading down to Malbun. The Nospitz can be easily reached by a short ascent from the Tälihöhi. From this ridge it was another 45-50 minutes back to town and to the car. We all started to feel some wear and tear in our bones and joints and reached the car just when the sun went down – perfect timing.

     

    Needless to say that it was an incredible day. The weather cooperated, amazing views, a great hike, special camaraderie and overall perfectly organized by Herbert – a trip I will always remember.

    Here some additional pictures:

    Some video impressions:
    httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gA8NaYhz1fQ

    If you would like to leave questions or comments, please do so through Youtube.

     

     

    ATTENTION !! 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!

  • WØC/PR-Ø21 (Mt. Parnassus) & WØC/FR-ØØ6 (Bard Peak)

    W0C/PR-021 (Mt. Parnassus) 4129 M / 13574 ft
    W0C/FR-006 (Bard Peak) 4150 M / 13641 ft
    August 21, 2013

    by KØMOS

    Mount Parnassus (no, not the famous Mountain from the Greek mythology) and Bard Peak are two summits in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. They are just along I-70, shortly before entering the Eisenhower tunnel (coming from the east). I have driven by these unspectacular mountains numerous times without even noticing them. They are rather easy to access via Herman Lake TH which is right at the exit 218 of I-70. Looking at the SOTA map for WØC, I decided to pay them a visit.

    Mt. Parnassus as seen from the TH (almost)
    Mt. Parnassus as seen from the TH (almost)

     

     Trailhead:  10313 ft / 2526 m
 Summit:     13574 ft / 4137 m (Parnassus) 
             13641 ft / 4150 m (Bard Peak)
 Elev. gain: 4574 ft  / 1394 m
 Roundtrip:  9.0  mi  / 14.5 km


    Compare this summit with my other activated summits

    How to get there:

    From Denver, take I-70 West and take exit 218. If you go through the Eisenhower tunnel, you went too far. Take a right at the end of the ramp and drive back, parallel to I-70, for 0.15 mi (0.25 km). Information kiosk and outhouse are right there.

    Parking/Trailhead

    View Larger Map

    Red Tape:
    Both summits are part of Arapaho National Forest and their rules and regulations apply.

    The Ascent:

    The elevation profile
    The elevation profile
    Trail splits after 300 yds
    Trail splits after 300 yds

    The first part of the trip follows the Watrous Trail. From the info kiosk I headed out east. After a few hundred yards the trail splits… I continued east on the trail through dead and downed trees and lots of noise coming from the highway :(

    When I tried to take a few snapshots with my trusted Canon G9 I only got a ‘Lens error, restart camera’ error message combined with an ear piercing whining noise in return.  A couple of restarts gave me the same result – the lens was stuck in the open position – therefore all photos were made with my video cam. My excuse for the ‘great’ quality of all the pictures. What I did not know at this point, more camera problems were to come.

    Down and dead trees
    Down and dead trees

    After about a mile into the hike the trail starts to head towards the north, along what I can only assume is Watrous Creek. Even though the creek was still carrying water, the noise coming from I-70 was still prominent. Eventually the forest/dead-tree environment makes room for alpine tundra with quite nice scenery and views of Woods Mtn. and Mt. Parnassus. The trail follows along the west side of the creek and disappears soon after it crosses over to the other side towards the saddle between Woods Mtn. and Mt. Parnassus.

    View of Mt. Sniktau
    View of Mt. Sniktau

    From here it is a straight shot to the saddle after passing through a few remaining trees. Conveniently, somebody erected a stone cairn near the top of the saddle. You can barely see it from here but aiming for the cairn brings you into perfect position for the last 3/4 miles or so up a rocky/grassy slope to the top of Mt. Parnassus. The views are rather nice, nearby Mt. Sniktau (WØC/PR-Ø31) clearly visible with Quandary Peak (WØC/PR-Ø14) in the background under mostly blue skies with only a few white clouds.

    The Summit:

    The rather steep west slope flattens towards the summit. The stone shelter can be reached without any obstacles. The large summit could host quite a few activators with their gear and antennas without getting too crowded. The views are stunning in all directions. Lot’s of high altitude SOTA peaks are in  clear view.
    Just after I finished shooting a 360 degree video, the battery of my remaining camera quit on me. Now I was sitting at 13574 ft / 4137 m with beautiful weather and a second summit to activate, and no camera – very disappointing.

    Mt. Evans, Mt. Bierstadt with the saw-tooth route as seen from the summit
    Mt. Evans and Mt. Bierstadt with the saw-tooth route in the distance

    With hardly any wind and with very comfortable temperatures I started to setup my antenna and gear. I logged my first QSO at 16:00 UTC, exactly as planned. I handed out the wrong SOTA reference number at first. Realizing that something was fishy, I asked Glenn/N4MJ to verify it for me. I only logged four QSO’s in 25 minutes. Since I had still a lot of ground to cover and because there were no more takers, I started to pack-up and move towards Bard Mountain.

    Bard Peak as seen from Mt. Parnassus
    Bard Peak as seen from Mt. Parnassus

     

    Mt. Parnassus to Bard Pk.:
    The decent from Parnassus down to the saddle is similar to the west flank, a steep grassy slope with some rocks. Larger outcroppings can be circumnavigated without any problems . From the bottom of the saddle it is another ~600 ft (183 m) of elevation gain to the summit. I started to feel my knees and other body parts but having another 10 pointer so close by released some new energy.

    It took me more than an hour to get to the top, slightly longer than planed. Setting up my shack went without hick-up under still amazing weather conditions. Logged 12 QSQ’s  in 15 minutes on 20m SSB. Looked like all the chasers were finally awake ;)

    After a few more but unanswered CQ’s I started my long hike back to the car.

    The Descent:
    Nothing noteworthy on the descent… took the same route via Parnassus. It felt like it took forever going down to the saddle and up again before heading down to the saddle of Parnassus and Woods Mountain. I  reached the car, conked out after 9 miles and 4574 ft ASL (14.5 km / 1394 m). A snack and fresh water supply in the car gave me back the necessary energy for the drive home.

    73, Matt/KØMOS

    Feel free to leave comments and/or questions below.

    ATTENTION !! 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!

  • Colorado 14er Event: WØC/PR-Ø2Ø and WØC/FR-ØØ3

    I had been planning all along to participate in the CO-14er Event this year. This event is  organized by Bob/KØNR, for Portable Mountaintop Operation on the 54 official 14er summits (Summits higher than 4267m) in Colorado.  It was however uncertain until late Friday whether I would actually be able to do so. Since it is mainly a VHF/UHF event, I home-brewed a lightweight 4-element Yagi-Uda for 2m – you can read more about it in a separate blog entry.

    I selected Mount Evans as a target since it is ‘only’ a 2.5h drive from my home QTH and it has several other SOTA peaks nearby… a good chance to bag more than one summit.

    The Plan:
    I planned an early morning (8:30 MST) SOTA activation of nearby  Gray Wolf Mtn. (4138 m/13602 ft),  hoping to be on the air by 11:00 MST on Mt Evans (4339 M / 14264 ft) via Mt. Spalding (13842 ft / 4219 m). A total of 5 miles (8 km) and 3100 ft (945 m) ASL.

    Evans - Route
    The route I took

    I drove up to Summit Lake in the Mt. Evans Wilderness to start my hike. I left my car at 6:30 MST under blue skies but with a fierce and chilly wind. Wool hat and gloves felt nice.

    Summit Lake Area
    Summit Lake Area
    Bighorns at the lake
    Bighorns at the lake

    There were only a few cars at the parking lot and a small herd of Bighorns observed my last preparations. I set my HT to 146.52 and 147.42 (Co-14er event primary frequency) hoping to catch any early  14er activators on my hike up. I moved quickly to warm up and passed only one group of hikers in front of me. The initial steep ascent towards Mt. Spalding had the desired effect and I could remove one layer of clothing under heavy breathing. I talked to two stations near Denver on 146.52 who were already aware of the event going on before I moved on.

    Elevation Profile
    Elevation Profile

    I joined another hiker from Boulder who was also heading towards Gray Wolf Mountain. We continued our hike through the ‘wetlands‘ between Spalding and Gray Wolf. It’s a delicate endeavor to cross the fragile alpine tundra under any circumstances but with the wet area in front of us we had to pick our route carefully to keep our feet dry and our impact to a minimum. The remaining route is pretty straight forward, a steep and rocky final ascent and and we reached the summit at 8:30 MST as planned.

    My shack on Gray Wolf - Mt. Spalding / Mt. Evans and Mt. Bierstadt in the background
    My shack on Gray Wolf – Mt. Spalding (center) / Mt. Evans (left) and Mt. Bierstadt (right) in the background

    Just as I was setting up my HF antenna I heard W1DMH/Doug (a SOTA Mountain goat) calling CQ on 2m from Mt. Bierstadt – just ~2.5 miles S of me. My first S2S contact in the log :)

    Thanks to decent propagation conditions, 20m contacts were easy to make and my log filled-up fast. I was just done with packing up my gear to continue towards Mt. Spalding, when I heard NM5S/Alan and WSØTA/Fred on 2m. These accomplished SOTA Mountain goats are normally not heard on voice frequencies – two more S2S contacts in the log and my first on the air contacts with Alan and Fred.

    Mt Evans as seen from Mt. Spalding
    Mt Evans as seen from Mt. Spalding

    I was now 30 minutes behind my schedule and started to head down the mountain towards the ‘wet lands‘ again. For quite a while now, I had been hearing a dog barking towards the east of me. That’s well off the beaten path of Mt. Evans and I was wondering what was going on. The continuous barking was frantic at times so I finally decided to investigate and check what was going on… perhaps a runaway dog ? Hiker with dog in distress? It turned out to be nothing like that at all, just some morons climbers who decided to tie their dogs to a rock and go rock-climbing – it was not appreciated by the dogs at all.
    Now I was really behind schedule and I rushed up Mt. Spalding, hoping to make good on some of the lost time. From Mt. Spalding I talked to KCØRPS on Quandray Peak and WE7C on Mt. Bierstadt. Coming up to the ridge-line to Mt. Evans, I could copy NØBCB/Bryan on Castle Peak (another 14er). Since I wanted a S2S contact I pressed on to the summit, not realizing that Bryan was already in process of packing up for the day.

    I reached the summit of Mt. Evans at 11:35 MST and had my first contact at 11:37 MST with KDØWBB/Scott, a young ham in Loveland on 2m, using my new homebrew Yagi-Uda antenna.

    On Mount Evans 4339 m/14264 ft - WØC/FR-ØØ3
    On Mount Evans 4339 m/14264 ft – WØC/FR-ØØ3

    My log from Mt. Evans:
    [table id=2 /]

    At this time, most of the other 14er activators had already left the summit or they were packing up their gear. It was now past noon and rain clouds were moving in. With the strong monsoon season this year we are currently blessed with daily rain showers and thunderstorms (at least in northern Colorado).

    I was in a comfortable position… with a road going all the way to the summit I was planning to hitch a ride back to Summit Lake where my car was parked in case of rain/thunderstorm. A friendly couple from Cincinnati gave me a ride. Shortly after reaching the car… the rain started :)

    My final word:
    Mt. Evans is very crowded thanks to the road going all the way to the top. Barking dogs, crying babies and screaming people (out of excitement) made it sometimes hard to copy the signals. Even though I was sitting at the very edge of the summit, I constantly had to be careful not to poke somebody in the eye with my antenna. Putting down the Yagi is also a bad idea… it might get crushed. That’s why I opted not to setup my HF antenna. If you decide to activate Mt. Evans, go early in the morning and if you are lucky, you might have the summit all to your self.

    Feel free to leave questions and/or comments below.

    73, Matt/KØMOS

    ATTENTION !! 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!

  • W7Y/EW-Ø20 (Ring Mountain) – 2688 m / 8818 ft

    Ring Mountain (W7Y/EW-020), the second activation of the day, presented some obstacles… my planned route coming from Jelm Mountain (see picture below) was blocked by a closed gate with a NO TRESPASSING sign. There is a separate trip report for Jelm Mtn. if you are interested.

    Jelm Mountain / Ring Mountain: Planned hiking Routes
    Green = route to Jelm Mtn.
    Blue = planned route to Ring Mtn.
    Red = actual route to Ring Mtn.

    To find public access, I continued to drive south on Wy10. The only possible access I could find was a small two-track, not even a dirt road… I almost missed it and had to back up to turn east.

    Access to Ring Mtn.
    Access to Ring Mtn.

    Being hot, tired and thirsty from my prior 10+ mile hike up Jelm Mopuntain, I decided to drive my old Subaru as far up the hill as I could. It was an adventure for the old Subi, some of the ruts were deeper than the ground clearance of my Subi and I had to make sure not to get stuck up here… who knows when the next car would come by… towing would become expensive.

    Gate
    US Forest Service Gate

    I managed to reach a gate with the car hitting the ground only once. I was sure hoping not to encounter another NO TRESPASSING sign. Luckily it was a US Forest Service gate, just 0.5 miles from WY10. I passed the barbed wire fence/gate in no time and continued to follow the two-track up the hill.
    Finally the track disappeared completely and it became too steep to continue by car. I left the vehicle, declared this point as the trail-head and continued my climb by foot.

    Trailhead:  8288 ft / 2526 m
    Summit:     8818 ft / 2688 m
    Elev. gain:  519 ft / 158 m
    Roundtrip: 0.8  mi / 1.2 km

    Compare this summit with my other activated summits

    How to get there:

    From Laramie WY, take WY-230 W for about 26 miles. Take a left onto WY-10 S for another five miles. The exact coordinates for the two-track:

    Latitude:  41° 2'32.49"N 
Longitude: 106° 0'3.75"W

    Parking/Trailhead

    View Larger Map

    Red Tape:
    There is private land everywhere and the two-track seems to be the only public access to the summit.

    The Ascent:

    The elevation profile
    The elevation profile

    The summit is close and clearly visible. Taking the route of least resistance, I crawled up the mountain in scorching temperature. The ground beneath me radiated the heat to uncomfortable levels and no shade was in sight.

    View back towards the TH (you can see the car if you look closely)
    View back towards the TH (you can see the car if you look closely)

    The Summit:

    My shack
    My shack with Jelm Mtn. in the background

    The summit offers a nice 360 degree view, Jelm Mountain with the WIRO dome clearly visible just a few files to the north. The sun was already high in the sky and the scarce vegetation provided no shade what so ever. I used a dead tree to tie my mast to and tuned the antenna for 20m, only to encounter the same kind of QRM I ‘enjoyed’ on Jelm Mtn. This time I did not try other bands but moved my shack immediately a little further down the mountain to have the summit between my  antenna and Jelm Mtn, still blaming some of the radio installations up there for the noise – BINGO, the noise was gone and Phil/NS7P answered my call, spotted me and I logged ten contacts in no time – thanks Phil.

    Panorama view towards north-west
    Panorama view towards north-west

    The Descent:
    Nothing noteworthy on the descent… did I mention that it was HOT? I reached the car, turned on the air-condition to max and carefully navigated my way back to the road while nibbling on my sandwich – thanks to the heat with a layer of melted cheese – yummy.

    Some video impressions:



    If you would like to leave questions or comments, please do so through Youtube.

    ATTENTION !! 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!

  • W7Y/EW-ØØ6 (Jelm Mountain) – 2943 m / 9656 ft

    I felt like it was time to explore the association just north of me, W7Y or Wyoming. The closest mountains are just ~60 mi / 100 km from my home QTH (as the crow flies) and are in the SE region of the association. To ‘justify’ the ~300 mi / 480 km drive I was planning to activate at least two summits. Jelm Mountain (W7Y/EW-006) and Ring Mountain (W7Y/EW-020) seemed to fit the bill perfectly. The two summits are just three miles apart and reaching Ring Mountain is about a two mile extension coming back down from Jelm Mtn. (see picture below) – so much for the plan.

    Jelm Mountain / Ring Mountain: Planned hiking Routes
    Green = route to Jelm Mtn.
    Blue = planned route to Ring Mtn.
    Red = actual route to Ring Mtn.

    During my research for the hike to Jelm Mtn. I discovered two notable facts:

    1) The summits hosts the WIRO, the Wyoming Infrared Observatory and therefore a dirt road connects WY10 with the summit.

    2) The yearly organized Jelm Mountain Run is following the same road. The course  record is held by Nik Deininger who finished the 10+ mile course in 1:10:30 in 2012. The challenge was on… could I beat his record?  ;)

    I was not seriously planning to break Nik’s record but I was hoping to get a tour of the observatory.

    Trailhead:  7622 ft/ 2323 m
    Summit:     9656 ft / 2943 m
    Elev. gain:  2627 ft / 801 m
    Roundtrip: 10.5  mi / 16.9 km

    Compare this summit with my other activated summits

    How to get there:

    Turn left onto Jelm Mountain Road
    Turn left onto Jelm Mountain Road

    Jelm Mountain (incl. the dome of the observatory) is visible for miles and miles (even before reaching Laramie) and it is straight forward to get to. From Laramie WY, take WY-230 W for about 26 miles.

    Take a left onto WY-10 S for another three miles.
    You will see the sign for the WIRO on your left (see picture on the right) with a maintenance building from the county with ample space to park your car… You can’t miss it.

     

    Parking/Trailhead

    View Larger Map

    Red Tape:
    This is private land and the dirt road seems to be the only public access to the summit.

    The Ascent:

    Jelm Mtn - Elevation Profile
    Jelm Mtn – Elevation Profile

    It does not get any easier than this. Just follow the dirt road all the way to the top. It was a very hot day (upper 90° F / 35°+ C) and the route does not provide any shade. It’s just you, the heat, tons of mosquitoes and a long long dusty road to the top. The views are completely different to what I am used to from the Front Range. Less dramatic but appealing and captivating nevertheless.

    Snowy Range in the distnacewith Moon
    Snowy Range in the distance

    The Summit:

    A few antennas on the summit
    A few antennas on the summit

    The summit is occupied by the dome (observatory), attached living facilities, and a few antennas with a container for equipment which seem not to be related to the WIRO. Even though there was a car parked in front of the observatory, I did not meet anybody… so much for the tour I had been hoping for.

    I setup the Buddipole behind the dome, attaching the mast to a dead tree. Turning on the radio presented me with S8 noise on 15, 17 and 20m… I could not hear a thing. I blamed it on the observatory and switched to 2m and my tape-measure Yagi antenna, hoping to get the necessary four contacts. The only contact was with K7HRO/Tom in Cheyenne (~60 mi with a few mountains in between). Signals were barely above the noise but we finally had a valid QSO.

    Trying to get below any potential radiation patterns coming from the antenna on the summit, I moved my stuff further down the mountain, careful not to leave the activation zone. Setting up the antenna on the west side – with the antenna well below the summit – achieved the goal… noise on 20m was down to a ‘normal’ levels. I was now more than two hours beyond my posted  SOTA alert but WØMNA/Gary and WØERI/Martha returned my call immediately and spotted me on SOTAwatch, rescuing this activation –  thanks guys.

    The Descent:
    I picked up the pace on my way down to make good on my time, not easy with these temperatures. I felt like a turkey on Thanksgiving… HOT.

    Closed gate / No Trespassing
    Closed gate / No Trespassing

    According to my plan I was supposed to ‘swing over’ to Ring Mtn., the blue route on my map (see picture above). Unfortunately it was impossible… a closed gate with a NO TRESPASSING sign blocked my way to the second summit of the day. Disappointed I moved on to the car, hoping to find public access further down the road.  I found the car where I left it, jumped in, started the engine to get the air-condition going and made a serious dent into my water supply stored in the car.

    I continued driving south on Wy10 in order to find access to Ring Mountain. Feel free to add your questions/comments below and/or Read on…

    More photos:



    ATTENTION !! 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!

  • WØC/FR-Ø69 (Prospect Mountain) – 2707 m / 8900 ft

    ATTENTION: This trip report is outdated. The City of Estes Park implemented a (new) trail up the mountain. You cannot access the summit legally from the new trail. Reports say you can get into the AZ.

    Prospect Mountain is a prominent landmark in downtown Estes Park, the gateway to the  Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP). It is easily accessible by a short but enjoyable hike up the south side or even with a tramway from the north. The actual summit is about 300 ft above the tramway summit station and can be reached by walking along a gravel road. The summit hosts a bunch of communication equipment, which is visible from most of Estes Park. I have chosen to hike up the south side, an approximately 30 minute hike.

    The Trailhead
    The Trailhead

    Trailhead:  7977 ft/ 2431 m
    Summit:     8900 ft / 2713 m
    Elev. gain:  1001 ft / 305 m
    Roundtrip: 1.8   mi / 2.9 km

    Compare this summit with my other activated summits

    How to get there:
    From downtown Estes Park, take S. St. Vrain Avenue (US 7) towards Allenspark. Take a right onto Peak View Drive after about 2 miles (there is a wind turbine on the left, just before Peak View Drive). After about 1.1 miles, park you car at a small pull out with a cinder block structure on the right (see picture above) . The trail starts behind the cinder block structure.

    Parking/Trailhead

    View Larger Map

    Red Tape:
    There is some private property along the trail.

    The Ascent:

    Prospect Mtn - Elevation Profile
    Prospect Mtn – Elevation Profile
    Wildflowers along the way
    Wildflowers along the way

    The ascent does not present any challenges. The well established trail follows along private property before turning north east. Every now and then you will find stone cairns to help with navigation, increasingly towards the summit. It continues to meander through Pines and rock outcroppings before reaching the flat and rather large summit. Since we had some late moisture this year, wildflowers and Cacti are blooming everywhere and hummingbirds were buzzing around my head.

    The Summit:
    There is plenty of space to setup the equipment on the rather large summit, even for larger groups of activators. Many trees, dead and alive to strap you mast or antenna to.

    Buddipole on the summit
    Buddipole on the summit

    I have chosen a large dead tree with one of it’s branches sticking up in the air to bungee my mast for the Buddipole  to. With all the commercial antennas up on the mountain, it was no surprise that my SWR meter went bonkers. The FT-817 was fine though and I was calling CQ on 20 m in no time. Since this was only the first of several activations planned for today, I spent only a short time on the summit, packing up after I did no longer get any responses to my calls.

    The Descent:
    Descent is straight forwards, following the same route I cam up.

    Some video impressions:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSL8PRR1MNo

    If you would like to leave questions or comments, please do so through Youtube.

    ATTENTION !! 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!

  • WØC/FR-Ø36 (Bighorn Mtn.) – 3487 M / 11463 ft

    It was a ‘last minute’ decision to go on this activation. WØC/FR-Ø36 or Bighorn Mtn.  is located within Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP), just east of the Mummy Range (Continental Divide). Yesterday we got some snow/rain in the mountains and the road to Mt. Evans is already closed for the season. Trail-ridge road was temporarily closed as well. The weather forecast for today was excellent (at least until later in the afternoon). However, I woke up to thick fog so I could not even see the road, let alone the mountains. The drive up to Estes Park was slow, thanks to the fog and to some heavy trucks in the canyon. I arrived ten minutes later than planned at Lawn Lake trail-head to a beautiful blue sky, bugling elks  and pleasant temperatures.

    Bighorn Mtn. – Trailhead

    Trailhead: 8552 ft/ 2565 m
    Summit:   11463 ft / 3847 m
    Elev. gain: 3280 ft / 1000 m
    Roundtrip: 9.0 mi / 14.5 km

    Compare this summit with my other activated summits

    How to get there:
    Take US34 from Loveland towards Estes Park through Big Thompson Canyon. Enter RMNP through the Fall River Entrance Station and take a right at the Lawn Lake trail-head sign. A rather large parking lot which can be found shortly after.

    Parking/Trailhead

    View Larger Map

    The trail-head provides toilets and the usual information kiosk.

    Red Tape:
    – RMNP is a federal fee area

    The Ascent:

    bla
    Bighorn Mtn. – ElevationProfile

    Bighorn Mtn – Views from the river banks

    Since there is no established trail to Bighorn Mtn., I consulted Google Earth to find a suitable route. An approach from the west seemed to be a good solution because I could follow the Lawn-Lake Trail for about 3.5 miles before turning east, bushwhacking my way up to the summit. The Lawn-Lake trail follows the Roaring River through a gorgeous forest, mainly pines but with a few Aspens groves which sparkled yellow and golden already. On several occasions along the the river you get an idea of the massive flood that occurred here in 1982, killing several hikers/campers. Huge boulders were swept down-rivers like marbles.  The steep banks of the river also allow some very scenic views of the northern Mummy Range. Shortly after passing the sign to the Cutbank and Golden Banner camp areas, I left the comfortable trail and started the steep and unpleasant bushwhacking part. I tried to aim for the saddle between Bighorn and Tileson. It was very slow going. Thick forest, steep terrain and slippery boulders (thanks to the rain, the lichens on the boulders were very slick) hampered my progress. Every now and then, I could get a glimpse through the trees to the Mummy Range – a spectacular view from the summit seemed very likely.

    The Summit:

    Bighorn Mtn – The Summit?

    After breaking through the tree-line, I could finally see where I was heading. There were several rock-outcroppings at the top to choose from. The first one I climbed was of course not the summit, but the second one was the highest point and I found a summit book which confirmed that I had indeed reached the top of Bighorn Mtn. The summit is rather large, ideal for multiple activators at the same time. The views are spectacular, one of the best in this area for sure. My initial calls on 2m were unanswered but the HF antenna was up and tuned in no time. Phil/NS7P was the first who answered on 14.343 and thanks to his spot the summit was activated successfully in no time.

    The Descent:
    I tried to find a gentler and easier way down, heading more towards the saddle. The fact that I could actually see where I am going helped quite a bit. The first part was just fine but I ended up in similarly steep terrain, trying to find the Lawn Lake trail. I hit the trail at the same location I had left it, thanks to GPS technology :)

    Some video impressions:
    httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4DjZ5q9cj0

    If you would like to leave questions or comments, please do so through Youtube.

    ATTENTION

    !! 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!

  • WØC/FR-ØØ2 (Grays Pk.) – 4341 m / 14270 ft and WØC/PR-Ø13 (Torreys Pk.) – 4340 M / 14267 ft

    I picked the perfect early fall day to activate Grays Pk. (WØC/FR-ØØ2) and Torreys Pk. (WØC/PR-Ø13). There was no cloud in the sky all day long to threaten the activations. The two 14ers, which can easily be reached from Denver, are separated by only about 0.7 mi / 1.1 km and are commonly climbed together. Besides the scarcity of oxygen they do not pose any challenges. A well established and easy to follow trail leads up from the parking lot through Stevens Gulch all the way up to the summits. Pick either one to start with but in my opinion you are better off climbing Grays Pk first (meaning it is easier). Both peaks can be climbed all year round. To assist a winter climb, they have huge stone cairns along the way. If you are familiar with the French comic book series Astérix le Gaulois, the cairns have the size and form of Obélix. Or maybe my brain just played tricks on me, lacking oxygen.

    Grays/Torrey – View up the valley

    Trailhead: 11300 ft/ 2565 m
    Summit:   14270 ft / 4341 m (Grays) – 14267 ft / 4340 m (Torreys)
    Elev. gain: 3731 ft / 1137 m
    Roundtrip: 7.8   mi / 12.6 km

    Compare this summit with my other activated summits

    How to get there:
    As mentioned, access to Grays/Torreys is rather easy coming from Denver. Follow I70 West, take exit Bakerville (#221) and turn left just after the ramp. This is the winter TH (FSR  189). Follow the dirt road for about 3 miles to the parking lot at the TH. Make sure to check the status off the dirt road if you are driving a ‘normal’ car. It’s kind of rough but my Outback made it without problems. Just take it slow.

    Parking/Trailhead

    View Larger Map

    Red Tape:
    – Parking lots fill up quickly, specifically on week-ends.
    – Rough road

    The Ascent:

    Grays/Torreys – Elevation Profile

    One of the best resources to check the status of the trail, trail-head etc. is the 14ers.com Website. Check the latest trip reports and photos before you leave.
    As already mentioned the trail is easy to find and follow. I went up Grays Pk. first. Since I left my QTH at 3:30 AM, I arrived early at the TH and pulled into an almost empty parking lot at 5:40. It was still pitch dark and below freezing, there was no wind or cloud in the sky. I used my headlamp for the first minutes to cross the bridge and get on my way. On my way up I passed two groups of hikers and finally arrived on the summit at 8:45 AM. A group of Mountain goats welcomed me on the summit – but kept a safe distance, not like the one on Mt. Evans.

    The Summit:

    Grays Pk. – My Shack

    Arriving at the summit of Grays Pk (North Americas highest elevation in the Continental Divide) I setup my shack in one of the two stone shelters on the summit. A group of six hikers were having a good time in the other one. I setup and tuned the antenna for 20m. Going through the frequencies I heard special event station W6P calling CQ on 14.285 and I got my first contact within minutes of arriving on the summit – an excellent start. Just over 30 minutes later I had no more takers to my calls and started to pack up my stuff to move on to the next summit. By then, I had a lot of interested people surrounding me and enough time to answer all the questions. The most asked question was: “How far does your signal go?” Most were amazed to hear all the states I just contacted with just 5W. And it is amazing thinking about it… one just stops thinking about it after doing it for 14 months.

    The route over to Torreys Pk. is again easy to find, even without the people caravan. You loose about 600 ft ASL before the steep ascent to Torreys Pk. When I arrived, the summit was very crowded and I could not find a safe location to setup the antenna. I opted for a spot about 10 ft below the summit to make sure nobody trips over my guy-lines. As usual during the HF setup I called CQ on 2m, hoping to make some local contacts but my calls were not returned. I definitely had better luck on 20m. The most unusual contact I had up there (or at all) was KB5FJN/Bill. We exchanged our signal reports (both 55) and our QTH… he was sitting on Grays Pk., the summit I just activated an hour ago just 0.7 miles north of me. Too bad I did not bring my binoculars… I sure could have spotted him up there.

    The Descent:
    The climb down was never ending , or at least it felt that way. I waited for Bill/KB5FJN on the saddle between Gray Pt. and Torreys Pk., trying to meet him in person – no luck. I could not spot him among all the people coming from Grays. I pressed on after about 15 minutes to avoid some of the heavy traffic on I70 going back to Denver on a Sunday afternoon. I am glad I did, turns out Bill never made it towards Torreys Pk. Driving back down slowly to I70 I was able to enjoy the yellow/golden Aspens glowing in the afternoon sun along the road – fall certainly arrived in Colorado.

    Some video impressions:

    If you would like to leave questions or comments, please do so through Youtube.

    ATTENTION

    !! 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!

  • Antenna Restrictions on Mt. Evans?

    I activated Mt. Evans for Summits on the Air (SOTA) on July 15th. I took the route from Summit Lake to the top early in the morning since thunderstorms were in the forecast for the afternoon. I had the peak to myself for almost half an hour which was unexpected, considering that there is a road all the way to the top. I setup my vertical Buddipole for 20m and started my activation – so far nothing out of the ordinary besides the bad band conditions due to the recent CME.

    Mt. Evans – BP on the summit

    I was talking to ACØA in Kansas when I spotted a National Forest Ranger running up the path from the parking lot. I could not understand what he was saying since I was

    • distracted by my ongoing QSO and
    • the lack of oxygen combined with his running up the mountain made his signal about a 22, with highly distorted audio.

    He arrived at the summit breathless and stood next to me, courteous enough to let me finish my QSO (or just to catch his breath?). He then introduced himself and  informed me that I have to take down the antenna immediately.

    My first thoughts were that the antenna was considered some sort of a safety hazard for other visitors but NO. The reason is, he informed me, that you cannot build a structure on Nation Forest land without a permit. Sounds like a sensible rule to me…. who wants to see cabins etc. erected on public land everywhere. I argued that my antenna can hardly be considered a structure and my short survey among the few visitors on the summit (~10 people) came to the same conclusion – nobody considered my antenna a structure but he insisted. Furthermore he instructed me to drive to the Clear Creek Ranger District HQ in Idaho Springs to get a permit. Needless to say that I was not planning to make a ~60 mile round-trip to get a permit for my activities. I already had enough contacts for my Mt. Evans SOTA activation and the fact that I had planned another activation for later in the day I did not want to waste my time arguing and started to pack up. Luckily I had my tape-measure YAGI with me for my next activation and I was hoping it would pass the NOT BEING A STRUCTURE test by the National Forest (to make sure I did not ask).

    I tried to follow up with the person in charge for the Clear Creek Ranger District… she is on vacation. Sure glad I did not drive all the way to Idaho Springs.

    GOOGLing, I found Forest Rules You Need to Know, published by the Secretary of Agriculture. On page two, under the chapter OTHER PROHIBITED FACTS it indeed prohibits “Constructing, placing, or maintaining any kind of communication equipment without a special use authorization“. Again, that makes sense to me to avoid that every Tom, Dick and Harry sets up his own repeater on public land… it does however not make sense to me for a temporary, mobile/portable antenna as I was using.

    It would certainly put a damper on SOTA activations and the upcoming 14er event. I am almost certain that on Field Day a lot of antennas go up on NF land.

    I would be interested in your experience and/or opinion and I am planning to follow up with the Clear Creek Ranger District. Maybe I was just dealing with an overly eager Ranger? Stay tuned…

    Matt/KØMOS

    UPDATE: Read the conclusion

    ATTENTION

    !! 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!

  • WØC/SP-117 (Midland Hill) – 2907 M / 9556 ft

    My First S.O.T.A. Activation by Frank Skinner KØJQZ

    Some of the best things are unplanned, or half planned. After a grueling morning planting bushes in the 100 degree heat that we have known in Southern Colorado as the norm I asked the XYL (Lynn, KC0YQF) if she was game to head out to San Isabel National Forest near Buena Visita for an overnighter and a hike up Midland Hill the next day. She was game. We hastily packed, feed the fur kids and headed out.

    I had no plan and the only thing for sure is I knew the road to turn off to get to the National Forest. We found a campsite and decided to set up camp before the storm hit.

    While relaxing in the camper listening to the rain fall I looked at the topo map and noticed there were two ways to get to the trail head. One was to go up a ways and take another county dirt road and one was to go into town to “Riverside Park” on the Arkansas River and I opted for that. The next morning we woke at 5am, had some coffee, stopped in Buena Vista for breakfast and headed to the park. There were a few cars but not many. We headed out.

    KØJQZ at the Trailhead

    Of course I did get lost once and that cost us about 15 to 20 minutes and this was before we got to the Midland Hill Summit Trailhead. After making it to the summit trailhead, we had already hiked about an hour, I realized I may had made a mistake and should of parked at the summit trailhead and forgone the nice but unnecessary visit to Buena Vista’s Riverside Park. No matter we where on our way up to the summit.

    Onward we marched. I was sick for a few years so while this is no big feat it has taken me a long time to be able to send code again, walk, run and of course climb up to a summit. We tried Mt Herman a few months ago and I was not really up to the task but walking 3 miles everyday at lunch has really helped me prepare for this.

    We saw two people on bicycles on the lower trail but not a sole on the upper trail to the summit.

    The view from the Summit

    Upon arrival at the summit it was time to setup the buddistick vertical and start some QSOs. It is rather funny to think that at 9,500 feet that the little KX1 and Buddistick is a much better station than my K3 (QRP Version) and my vertical at 6,000 feet. A couple of CQs and nothing…. I decided to check to see if I could self -spot and I was able to do a shameless spot and the QSOs started rolling in.

    KØJQZ working the pileup

    I was only able to operate for a little less than 20 minutes and made only 8 QSOs. I was pretty disappointed but the clouds were moving in and I knew it would take us an hour to get to county road 304 and at least another 30 minutes to make it back to the truck. We made it with about 15 minutes to spare before the sky opened up. Of course we celebrate rain lately and enjoyed the cool down. I apologize for those that waited for me but I had to bug out. One thing I did not want to do is to get stuck on the summit with the ham gear.

    I have a few lessons learned. I took too much stuff and while I like the buddistick I just hate carring coax. I built Stu’s tuner and will fashion something else for next time. I took two rigs, the ATS4b and the KX1, I just wanted to make sure I could operate just in case something happened to one of them. The KX1 has the advantage of the built in tuner but the AS4b is smaller and with Stu’s tuner I may just use it next time. There will be a next time.

    So my first activation came to an end. I have been following all the hams in Colorado that do this and have worked a few from home. I am fairly active as a chaser but really never had the appreciation for the activators until I tried it. Lucky for me Lynn came along, as it is nice to chat while on the trail. She is studying for her General and when she passes I promised her a rig to get on HF with (KX3 is a top choice). I am just a cw operator so I will leave the fancy SSB Ops to her.

    I want to thank the following operators I was able to chat with for my first SOTA Activation.

    •  W6ZKH
    • W7CNL
    • K6ILM
    • WO6M
    • NS7P
    • WA2USA
    • K7NEW
    • N4EX

    72, Frank K0JQZ
    f_skinner at yahoo dot com

    Some video impressions:
    httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0d2MFrfu10

    If you would like to leave questions or comments, please do so through Youtube.

    ATTENTION

    !! 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!