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!
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!
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!
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 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!
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!
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).
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.
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
