GoGreen SOTA - Crossing the Benediktenwand

September the 2nd and 3rd, 2023. GoGreen SOTA - Crossing the Benediktenwand in two days.

I've always wanted to do this tour, crossing the Benediktenwand from Lenggries to Kochel. The opportunity didn't come until the beginning of September with the nice weather. I wasn't sure whether I should run a mountain marathon and activate all five SOTA mountains in one day, or whether I should turn it into a pleasure tour. Since it was supposed to be a GoGreen activity, I was slowly leaning towards a longer tour, where I would have enough time for radio. The plan would be to achieve at least 50 QSOs which are equivalent to one GoGreen Clover from each summit. If you are not familiar with GoGreen XOTA, please take a look HERE. And I had another goal in mind, I wanted to locate the ibex population around the Benediktenwand in order to admire these rare, majestic wild animals in person. So, as a precaution, I packed a few things for bivouac and set off on the tour early the next day.

The one and a half long drive to Lenggries was pretty boring. It was a Saturday and the train to Lenggries was full. I was happy to get a seat. It was a 2km walk from the train station to the Brauneckbahn. From there to the first summit, Latschenkopf, 1711m, DL/BE-013 it was an easy 5km long jump. At 9:45 a.m. I reached the first SOTA summit. I made myself comfortable a little away from the summit cross, where 10 other mountaineers were milling about, and curiously went into the air. Would I scrape together the 50 QSOs? Yes, it worked UFB, I made 53 QSO (with 4x s2s) in CW in an hour of operation time. A few visitors watched me over my shoulder as I operated in Morse. It was fun! 

Operating from the Latschenkopf, 1711m, DL/BE-013.

The second peak, Achselköpfe, 1710m, DL/BE-015 was only 1.5km away. It is a small, narrow, and lonely peak, to which a barely visible path leads. It is very rare for a tourist to get lost here. At 12:30 I had my L-antenna up. Here I enjoyed the peace, the all-round view and the radio. I logged 54 QSOs including 9x s2s and 5x SSB in five quarters of an hour. It was fun!

Operating from the Achselköpfe, 1710m, DL/BE-015.

The third summit, Benediktenwand, 1800m, DL/BE-016 was in sight, it was only 1.5km from here. When I arrived at the summit, I took a long break to satisfy my hunger and wait for the many noisy tourists to leave the summit. I logged the first QSO at 4:40 p.m. Well, it was quite late to expect many SOTA chasers. The propagation conditions were also not particularly favorable either. It was quite though. I only logged 16 CW QSOs in half an hour!? It was enough for a valid SOTA activation, but it didn't satisfy me. I grabbed the microphone, called CQ, searched for and collected all the /P stations participating in the SSB Field Day. Once again I called CQ SOTA, then again I worked in the SSB Field Day and distributed valuable points to the /P stations. It was a tedious task scrubbing all the QSOs in SSB! I scraped together 57 QSOs (~50/50 in CW/SSB) in 2.5 hours and called it a day. The main LiPo battery was going to die, only 2.5W came out of the FT-817. It was just no fun anymore!

Operating from the Benediktenwand, 1800m, DL/BE-016.

The sun set mercilessly. It was late and I was tired. The Tutzinger hut was full. For safety reasons, I decided to spend the night in the refuge. My slight hope of having the whole shelter to myself died when I arrived at the refuge. A couple with a dog has already settled down next to my sleeping mat. They were typical Instagram/YouTube bloggers who were just keen to record the sunset and sunrise with all kinds of cameras in order to get more and more Likes on social media. Hikes for Likes 👍? No, thanks! 👎 How about enjoying the sunset in peace, savoring this peace and letting your thoughts roam freely? Nothing like that. The woman babbled loudly and incessantly… Nevertheless, the sunset was stunningly beautiful!

The sunset on the Benediktenwand was stunningly beautiful!

The night in the shelter was restless. The bloggers woke me up several times. Loud and disrespectful! It was still dusk when I slipped out of my sleeping bag and went outside to watch the sunrise. Breathing in the fresh mountain air at sunrise is a unique feeling that will stay in your memory forever!

The view from and sunrise on the Benediktenwand was fantastic!

Pure adventure. Overnight stay in the refuge close to the Benediktenwand. 

I only had three liters of water for two days, just enough. 

It was time to leave and head to the fourth summit, Glasswand, 1496m, DL/BE-017. On the way down to the Glaswandscharte I suddenly saw them - the ibexes. Two bucks were observed grazing for quite a long time and even walked along for a while until they finally disappeared into the thick mountain pines. What a blessing to see these majestic wild animals in the wild and get so close to them! A little further down I met an older ibex who was watching me curiously from a rock wall. We looked at each other respectfully, greeted each other briefly in silence, and each of us went our own way, he going up and I going further down. It was a unique experience!

Mountain Goat DD1LD meets two real mountain ibexes. 

From the col to the Glaswand, 1496m, DL/BE-017 I traveled with light luggage. Around 9 a.m. I reached the small summit cross. It is a beautiful and lonely mountain that, according to the summit book, is very rarely visited. You find peace there. I made 31 CW QSOs in 45 minutes. To get the remaining 19 QSOs I would have needed at least half an hour more. I left it be and walked quickly and smoothly back to the col (to the Glaswandscharte). 

Operating from the Glaswand, 1496m, DL/BE-017.

From the Glaswandscharte to the fifth mountain Rabenkopf, 1555m, DL/BE-018 it was 5km through the Staffelalm, which is managed during the grazing season and is located on the south side of the Rabenkopf. The tiny top of the Rabenkopf was fully packed at lunchtime. I found a suitable spot on the steep northwest slope under the summit cross and went into the air at a quarter to one. In just over an hour 37 QSOs were logged including 4x s2s. The final SSB run on 20m got me 11 QSOs in 5 minutes, and then nothing else came in. I had neither the desire nor the time for search & pounce with QRP in the SSB Field Day. Actually I could, but the small backup battery was pretty dead. It was time to go home. I packed everything up while chatting with some interested parties about SOTA.

Operating from the Rabenkopf, 1555m, DL/BE-018.

It was a 10km long and quite boring walk to the train station in Kochel am See. It took me over 3 hours to get home from the train station by alternative transport... The only downer 👎.

It was a wonderful and unforgettable GoGreen ridge crossing. I activated five SOTA mountains (two ones were Uniques for me), collected 30 SOTA points, 234 GoGreen QSOs/Points, three GoGreen Clovers and made 184 GoGreen kilometers. And I was very lucky to be able to observe the ibexes up close. My long-awaited wish had come true!

Mni tnx es 73, 77 de Dzianis, DD1LD

GoGreen High Speed Climbing & Haming

Date: September 16th, 2023, GoGreen Triple Activation by 1x WWFF and 2x SOTA 

It was a fantastic solo day tour that lasted from 5am to 9pm in total. The plan was to run the Hindelanger via ferrata from Nebelhorn to Grosser Daumen and activate DL/AL-076 (W. Wengenkopf, 2235m) and AL-077 (Grosser Daumen, 2280m) which are in DLFF-0230 (Allgäuer Hochalpen). My goal was to succeed triple activation by achieving at least 100 GoGreen QSOs/points, 50 QSOs from each peak in a very limited time. 

I very enjoyed this ridge walking, it was high speed climbing & haming, just the way I like it. The start time of the run was 9:45am at Nebelhorn and the finish time was 4:00pm at Höfatsblick, with the amateur activities lasting approximately 1.5 hours. I estimate I lost about half an hour because some climbers were stuck in traffic at the few key points. Anyway, that was pretty sporty, wasn't it? 💪😉 In total I made 107 GoGreen CW QSOs in in just over an hour on 20m and 30m bands. The propagation was good enough. No operating on other bands due to the very limited time. I still have to calculate the GoGreen Miles. The total travel time by train, including some delays, was 7 hours 😒.  Too much, the Deutsche Bahn always has problems with punctuality and reliability!? 

Ridge walking (marked in red) is a sporting challenge and always good for my soul. 

More info about the Hindelanger via ferrata.  

The Hindelanger via ferrata is pretty easy (B/C level), but quite long. The number of climbers was okay for a sunny Saturday, so I quickly arrived at Wengenkopf, DL/AL-076.

Operating from Wengenkopf, DL/AL-076. 53 CW QSOs were gathered in 30min of operating time on 20/30m. DX was EA8. Nebelhorn (deleted SOTA) is in the background. The operating spot was pretty tight, I only had to use two radials.

"Make nature your shack". Operating from Grosser Daumen, DL/AL-077. 54 CW QSOs were gathered in 40min of operating time on 20/30m. DX was TF3.  Brilliant operating spot. I would have liked to stay longer and relax a bit, but I had to hurry... 

Running back to Höfatsblick. Hochvogel, DL/AL-030 (activated by me) is in the background. 

Great weather!  Fantastic day! Mission complete!  I simply love the Allgäuer Alps 💖.

Tnx all fer QSO es 73, 77 es 44 de Dzianis, DD1LD

IS0/DD1LD On The Air

Our family holidays in South Sardinia were just AWESOME! I had a great time with the family and our friends but also some time for ham radio. Almost 700 QSOs were logged in two weeks on the IS0 island, IOTA EU-024. The focus was on SOTA activities (and what else 😀), I have managed 30 SOTA points by 8x SOTA activations, 5x of them were the first ones (ATNO), some of them are really nice, quiet and picturesque summits. It was too hot for longer tours so the daily schedule looked like an early morning activation and spending the rest of the day at the beach. IS0 in the summertime is just about looking for wonderful and warm beaches rather than hiking and climbing mountains in the hot sun at 35°-40°C. And, unfortunately, It would have taken a long drive to reach the highest peak on the island - IS0/IS-001, Punta La Marmora, 1834m. So, I skipped it, maybe next time then 😉. Here is a brief summary of my SOTA activations:

From all of them activated I liked Monte Maria, IS-216 the most, where I had to free climb the very last piece to the "Steinmandl". It was a wonderfully sunny and slightly windy morning. I enjoyed the absolute solitude and idyllic view from the summit for a long while before I got on the air for a half an hour. The signals there are clear as the clear sky above your head. Operating from the top while the orange sun cheerfully rises over the blue sea, and together with my friend Spartacus who listened  attentively to the wind and soft clicks of the Morse key, such moments will remembered for a long time. IMHO, SOTA in IS0 is something for nature connoisseurs and lovers, but not for point collectors. Even an one-pointer (especially a pathless one) here might be difficult to reach, but you are usually rewarded with a great all-round view and solitude. Punta Eva, IS-195 is another nice hike where you will need to find your own way to the activation zone.

Spartacus and me had to start the hikes very early in the morning (~ 6 AM) to avoid the daily heat and get back in time for breakfast. Usually, this resulted in short runs of around 20 to 30 minutes on 20m and 30m. When I had a little more time, I diligently continued on other bands until there were no more takers. The 20m band was the best choice. A lot of QSB on 30m. No operation on 40m, sorry 😉. A total of 207 SOTA QSOs were logged.

I managed one WWFF activation, IFF-1685 by 70 QRP QSOs in CW, and only because this one was on a fairytale sandy beach close to our second QTH. I found a nice operating spot under the pine trees near the beach and alternated between running the radio and swimming in the crystal clear and warm water 👍😁. The first call logged was KD1CT with 599💪. I had to learn that the IFFA has its own requirements for a successful WWFF activation validation, and that a log submission to WWFF can be unnecessarily complicated 😠. Of course I should have read the national rules first. Thanks goodness, and good news for all chasers, my activation and log have been accepted by the IFFA team. I had also planned a combined SOTA+WWFF activation but had to cancel it for family reasons as it would have taken a full day. Many IS0 summits require technically easy but long hikes.

I ran for a couple of hours in the WAE CW contest (~200 QSOs) and then occasionally. Despite high QRM in a range of S5-S7 I was able to log some nice DX like HK4, ZM4, LT6, VK9, VK4, etc.

Some impressions are held on the following pictures.

There is a fire station on IS0/IS-264 which is on duty 24/7 those hot dry days.  

23km walk and 800m of altitude to gather six points on IS0/IS-085, huhhh, tnx!

Only QRO came in the log, all QRP got lost in QRM on IS0/IS-048, sri.

View from IS0/IS-048 in the late afternoon, ~ 1000m ASL.

Together with my faithful companion Spartacus at a very early activation of IS0/IS-137.

Sunrise over landscape. You have to start very early to escape the daily heat... 

The 40/30/20 EFHW among pine trees providing some shade while activating IFF-1685, 44!

My shack. Tnx all qso es 73 de IS0/DD1LD.

I've always attempted to do more ham radio activities here, but I had to be considerate of my family and our friends. All in all, a great time and lots of fun! I would come back here one day... for other /P activities. 

QRT de IS0/DD1LD ..

Tnx es 73 de Dzianis, DD1LD