September 9-10, 2024 near Burton, BC
Wilf VE7OHM had suggested that Mike VE7KPZ's next Summits On The Air activation might be at the glorious Saddle Mountain VE7/CK-034 just outside of Nakusp, BC. After a little online research about the location, Mike agreed and set about hiking up to the 2304 m/7800 ft summit with his friend Aiden.
We were fortunate to start at the upper parking lot, shaving off the steepest section of the hike leaving ~4 km of pleasant switchbacks and 650 meters of vertical elevation gain to go.
About half way up the remains of the old lookout attendants' cabin was found. In the late 1920s this is where the staff stayed each night, as the lookout was just a canvas tent at that time.
Nearing the alpine the first glimpse of the lookout was seen.
Gaining the alpine the views opened up (Saddle Mountain to the left and Upper Saddle Mountain (VE7/CK-014) on the right).
The hardest part of the hike was navigating the boulder field.
Rounding the corner just south of the summit, we stopped for a minute to watch some frolicking chipmunks. It was surprising to see chipmunks at this elevation (around 2250 meters).
A bit more goat trail up from the west and we were on top.
A couple of day hikers were ahead of us. We chatted with them for a bit before they headed down.
The summit was ours but it was only 1 PM. We were very early. Time for some HF operation.
The HyEndFed EFHW was strung up between the lookout's railing and a guyed SOTABEAMS tactical mini mast. 5 watts QRP phone seemed to work best on the 20 meter band via the IC-705.
With 6 HF contacts in the log we were made aware that another SOTA activator from Alberta was also on 14.341 MHz, so we relinquished the frequency to them. A move over to the 40 meter band brought one more contact with good friend Austin VE7QH.
The sky was looking rather ominous, so the HF wire was brought down in case the storm rolled in quickly.
But it was only 3:30 PM, so we made ourselves at home inside the lookout.
What luxury to have such a nice place to eat and sleep on top of a high mountain summit. Big thanks to the Nakusp & Area Trails Society who restored the lookout building in 2017.
After setting up our beds, we proceeded to make dinner and then it was time for the main event, the 5 PM 2 meter band activity as originally scheduled (and communicated to the SOTA chasers and Okanagan 2m SSB group).
We used Aiden's hiking stick velcroed to the lookout's railing to support the Elk log periodic antenna effectively giving us ~20 watts ERP for 2m activity.
We had three local QSOs on 2m FM (big thanks to Rob Murray VA7RMM of Edgewood who told the Arrow Lakes community about the planned activation) and then switched to 2m SSB (to work Rob again and) to reach further (over multiple mountain ranges) into Salmon Arm (~110 km), Kelowna (~120 km) and Vernon (~95 km).
With another 7 QSOs in the log for 2m activity it was then time to tear down the radio gear and focus on the evening's feature event - the sunset.
The earlier stormy sky began to clear.
These views are the real reason we climb these summits - SOTA is the bonus.
With the sun setting the temperature outside dropped considerably. Fortunately the lookout stayed warm well into the morning so our light sleeping bags were sufficient.
We rose at sunrise, ate breakfast, packed up, swept the lookout and finally signed the guest book to leave record of our visit.
The morning light made the trip down quite beautiful.
Like the way up, Aiden also led the way back.
We made it back to the car in very good time (just 1.5 hours).
This was an epic trip, and considering the current poor ionospheric conditions for HF radio operation, we did quite well with a 5 watt QRP phone signal.
The lookout does get very busy on the weekends (7 people slept over the Sunday/Monday before us) but this would be a great location for a group SOTA event/summit campout. The trail is quite good and the elevation gain is consistent with the switchbacks.
One thing to change for next time: bring more coax. Packing in 7 litres of water (each) for a late-season summit means radio gear weight is kept to a minimum. However, it would have been nice to have been able to operate from inside the lookout instead of on the breezy porch. Then again, it's unusual to spend 3 hours operating because you got to the summit too early and needed something to pass the time.
Big thanks to Wilf for suggesting to bag this peak, Aiden for joining in on the trip and all the SOTA chasers who came back to our CQ calls. It was super fun.
73,
Mike VE7KPZ
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