New job responsibilities have brought new challenges and a lot of travelling. At the beginning December I spent one week in California and managed a couple of nice activations over there. I hope to find some time over the Christmas and Happy New Year break to summarize a short report.
No doubt, all activations in California were really nice and enriched my experience and mind, however I felt somehow homesick. Probably influenced by the desert landscape and weather I just realized I was missing my Alps „around the corner“. There is nothing wrong with this and nothing to do about this - Home is Home and Dahoam is Dahoam.
The weather at home was rainy and windy and grey the whole week, good for working, though. The weather forecast for Friday, December 20th was more or less stable and without rain. Moreover, due to the warm fall winds in the Alps some local warm spots with a temperature up to 15°C were possible. I decided to take the chance and chosen DL/CG-079. "A half of the day should be enough for this activity," I planned.
Ristfeuchthorn, DL/CG-079, 1569m. December 20th, 2019. Start in Schneizlreuth at about 530m. Over 1000m height difference I fully enjoyed in solitude within 2.5 hours up and 1.5 hours down. Steep and fairly long path, however worth it – as anticipated it was a lonely and picturesque tour exactly how I like it. Quite strong wind made the CQing less comfortable. Some deep snow spots on the summit. Nice view from the top. As usual, I logged in into the summit book while recognizing that only a few people made it to the top in December. I met four chamois on the way up and frightened the same curious goat away on the way down. Picturesque view all way long.
No doubt, all activations in California were really nice and enriched my experience and mind, however I felt somehow homesick. Probably influenced by the desert landscape and weather I just realized I was missing my Alps „around the corner“. There is nothing wrong with this and nothing to do about this - Home is Home and Dahoam is Dahoam.
The weather at home was rainy and windy and grey the whole week, good for working, though. The weather forecast for Friday, December 20th was more or less stable and without rain. Moreover, due to the warm fall winds in the Alps some local warm spots with a temperature up to 15°C were possible. I decided to take the chance and chosen DL/CG-079. "A half of the day should be enough for this activity," I planned.
Ristfeuchthorn, DL/CG-079, 1569m. December 20th, 2019. Start in Schneizlreuth at about 530m. Over 1000m height difference I fully enjoyed in solitude within 2.5 hours up and 1.5 hours down. Steep and fairly long path, however worth it – as anticipated it was a lonely and picturesque tour exactly how I like it. Quite strong wind made the CQing less comfortable. Some deep snow spots on the summit. Nice view from the top. As usual, I logged in into the summit book while recognizing that only a few people made it to the top in December. I met four chamois on the way up and frightened the same curious goat away on the way down. Picturesque view all way long.
Operating spot on DL/CG-079. View towards the south.
The activation was business as usual. 16 QSO were made within 30 min of operating time:
- 40m – 11 QSO
- 20m – 3 QSO
- 30m – 2 QSO
***
A look from the window in the morning just confirmed - the weather on Thursday, December 26th is going to be better than forecasted yesterday. I asked my 3 years old son Kirian what he wants us to do today. “Papa, we go hiking today!” he said. “Well, sounds like a music in my ears!” Although it was a pretty late morning to hike something challenging, the weather was permitting and I picked-up DL/MF-115 versus DL/MF-082.
Nusslberg, DL/MF-115, 882m. December 26th, 2019. Start in the Brünsteinstraße. About 300m ascent. An easy hike and well suitable for family and winter activations. Nußlberg is usually pretty crowded but not in winter time. We met some walkers descending, as soon as we arrived the top we were pretty alone.
An incredible scenic view towards the Kaiser mountains. I just recognized again, there are no words to describe how beautiful our Alps are. I also felt and fully comprehended the beauty of the moment – here and now with my son! Dahoam is Dahoam. Kirian clearly enjoyed the hike, and especially some snow around the chapel. It’s just great to be able to jump out and have a gorgeous day outside like today and decelerate everyday life.
Because of Kirian I had short runs on 30m and 20m however worked all chasers who called in. Altogether 18 QSO (13 QSO on 30m and 5 QSO on 20m) were made within 25 min of operating time, including one S2S QSO on 30m and one QSO with NA on 20m. 1 + 3 (winter bonus) points earned. Self-spotting.
Operating spot on DL/MF-115. Kirian assisting.
View towards the snow powdered Kaiser mountains.
Thanks to all chasers!
***
(Added on December 30th, 2019)
Luckenkopf DL/MF-095, 1370m. December 30th, 2019. Start in Bad Wiessee at 830m ASL. It’s a rarely activated summit, densely covered with trees. Almost no view from the top, however a beautiful and lonely hike in the snow. It looks like tracking maps haven’t been actualized yet, there is a forest worker’s way directly to the top, and there is another one to the Kogelkopf as well. You can find my winter optimized GPX-track recorded from today’s tour HERE.
What a great sunny day with no clouds sky. We got inversion weather (or inversion temperature) today, that means that the temperature on the summit was a couple of degrees higher than in the valley. A good view into the distance in the Mangfall mountains, so that I was able to find a nice spot among trees and see Munich from the summit before the sunset.
Unfortunately, I had to start hiking at the early afternoon. However, this gave me a chance to enjoy the sunset over the Tegernsee, and to get a couple of USA calls in the log.
I made myself quite comfortable on a fallen tree and started calling on 20m. Slowly moving play of sun light and shadow in the forest accompanied me for the next half hour.
Make nature your shack: preparing my operation spot.
3 QSO with USA and 2 QSO with EA were logged within 5 minutes, and then nothing else within next 5 minutes of CQing. The change to 30m resulted in 2 QSO with SM and other 3 QSO with EA and CT, nothing else came back. “There should be more takers on 40m,” I thought. However, I was a bit surprised to gather only 8 QSOs including only one with DL with 339 RX RST. “Slightly unusual propagation conditions,” I remembered that I already experienced similar conditions a couple of rare times while operating in the Alps in winter time. E.g. last winter I managed to qualify one activation (MF-038) by only QSOs with North America and nothing else from EU found its way in my log on 20m. Altogether 18 QSO and 4 + 3 (winter bonus) points were gathered. Spotting via RBNHole.
As the sun goes down: sunset over the Tegernsee.
I miss the snow. I miss walking in the snow, looking at it, touching and tasting it. And I got it today, I had a beautiful walk and winter SOTA activation in the snow, and another great afternoon!
Thanks to all chasers!
73 es HNY es cuagn de Dzianis, DD1LD.
