Bryan/NØBCB and I attempted to activate Bighorn Mountain for the TTF/SOTA event on Saturday. The summit (3487 M / 11463 ft) is in beautiful Rocky Mountain N.P., the weather forecast was excellent with temperatures in the 70s (~20 C) and the amount of ALERTS posted on SOTAwach promised a very busy activation with tons of S2S possibilities.
Bighorn Mtn. – ElevationProfile
Bryan/NØBCB at the Trailhead of Bighorn Mtn.
We started early at the Lawn Lake trail-head to have enough time available on the summit. We headed up at 7:00 AM with temperatures around 30F (~0 C). The snow on the ground was hard and crunchy. The first three miles of the trip climbs rather steadily along the banks of Roaring River on an established trail. Thanks to the fresh snow we received last week, the trail was snow covered and soon became a major obstacle on our way up. Snow-depth was around 2-3+ feet and we had to take turns to break the trail. It got increasingly difficult and we made very little progress, on occasions sinking in all the way to out belly-buttons.
Bryan/NØBC breaking trail
Upon reaching the point where we would have to turn SE, leaving the trail and bushwhack our way up the steep slopes, we assessed our situation and options. So far we had only covered 3 miles in 2.5h and we estimated at least another 2h of ascent in deep snow. That would have put us on the summit at least 2h late of our plans and therefor we opted to head back to the TH, and to setup our radios to at least participate in the TTF event.
It took us almost 2.5h to reach the TH and we logged our first QSO around 18:15 (UTC). Band conditions and our location (surrounded by mountains) were less than ideal. All bands we tried (10/15/20/40) were pretty quiet, even Megawatt stations barely copyable. The only SOTA/TTF station I was able to contact was Jeremy/NH6Z in Oregon and a few stations in Florida.
Overall a disappointing SOTA/TTF day for us but a nice outing in the RMNP. More snow is in the forecast for tomorrow, looks like the snowshoes have to stick around for a little while longer.
Since we had no chance to take pictures on the summit, check out last years trip-report with video footage.
73, Matt/KØMOS
!! WARNING !! There are old mountaineers, and
bold mountaineers... there are no old-bold mountaineers.
Hiking and mountain climbing are potentially hazardous activities particularly in Colorado with its extreme elevations. I am not accepting responsibility for any death or injury resulting from activations based on my trip reports. Proper training, experience, and personal capability assessment is required - enjoy!
