Summit is exposed to wind, rain, sun (and good views)
Taylor (K7TAY) and I went back to the Northern Columbia River Gorge area for yet another four-point summit in Southern Washington today. The weather was forecast for 70F in the valleys and clear skies; we were not disappointed.
Wanted to try out my gear so I hiked up this butte which is right behind my house. About 1000 ft straight up. No trail to speak of, just a lot of loose rock. Set up my Buddipole and tuned it with a small analyzer. Operated 20m CW with my Elecraft K-1 and mini-paddles. Battery was an 1800mAh 12 volt model airplane Li-Po I had laying around the shop. It wasn't until I quit that I realized I never used the auto-tuner in my K-1, so who knows how much my 5 watts was throttled down. I'll try to remember that next time.
A month and a half ago, Dan (KK7DS) and I attempted Silver Star Mountain on snowshoes from the north side. Sadly, we never made it to the summit due to strong gusts of wind that nearly blew me off the moutain :) Yesterday, we decided to approach it from the south side following the Grouse Vista Trail, a 6-mile roundtrip hike (here's a link to our GPS track).
First off - Chasers Rock! There was no way to self-spot and Phil - NS7P, found me and moved with me to 14.064-cw to get things started. And then, long after our QSO was done, Rich - N4EX, noted my QSY to 14.309-ssb and spotted me there. The climb of Mount St. Helens is different depending on the season - currently there is snow from trailhead to summit while late summer will find you on scree and pumice and rock the entire way. Myself, I prefer the great white stairmaster (snow), because I ski.
Putney Mountain could be a minimalists activation dream if you live in Southern Vermont - it was for me as the B&B we stayed during my visit was just ten minutes from the trailhead - only a few miles outside of Putney, Vermont.
