{"id":132,"date":"2019-03-10T15:50:54","date_gmt":"2019-03-10T15:50:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.m1cje.uk\/?page_id=132"},"modified":"2021-07-14T16:02:09","modified_gmt":"2021-07-14T16:02:09","slug":"scafell-pike-2019","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.m1cje.uk\/index.php\/sota-summits-on-the-air\/english-summits\/scafell-pike-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"Scafell Pike 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

G\/LD-001, Scafell Pike \u2013 978m, 10 Points<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Sunday dawned wet and wild.\u00a0 By the time we arrived at the National Trust car park it was tipping down.\u00a0 Suddenly realising that we needed cash for the parking we searched our pockets and managed to find the six pounds required.\u00a0 Checking the machine though it was out of order so panic over.<\/p>\n

Ordinarily this is a fairly mundane climb, the main hazard being the tourists gasping for breath beside the path, but today was different, the path was deserted.<\/p>\n

The Lingmell Gill crossing below Brown Tongue was interesting, there had been a lot of rain in the last few days and it was very swollen, but with care still passable.<\/p>\n

\"\"We met the snow line\u00a0\u00a0at about 300m just above the Gill crossing.\u00a0 The rain turned to heavy white snow, settling well and at times hiding the path completely.\u00a0 We lost it through the Stones and had to get the map and compass out.\u00a0 Wasn\u2019t expecting to have to do that on Scafell Pike.<\/p>\n

Around here we passed a couple of groups on their way back down who were the only ones we saw on the mountain that day.\u00a0 None of them had summited as conditions were too bad higher up.<\/p>\n

By 750m the snow was significant and the wind gathering force.\u00a0 We found a little shelter behind a rock where we stopped to add another layer.\u00a0 I think that\u2019s the first time I have ever had to do that on the way up!<\/p>\n

The final push up to the summit was challenging, at times breaking ground through snow up to our thighs.\u00a0 On steep uphill ground this really takes it\u2019s toll but Peter took the challenge and heroically forged the path through.\u00a0 We were certainly glad though when the summit cairn finally appeared out of the gloom.<\/p>\n

On the lee side of the cairn the wind had left us a nice clear gap to sit in where we settled down to set up the station.\u00a0 I put my radio above me up on top of the cairn for a better take off, but was rewarded half way through the activation when it landed on my head, blown off by the wind.\u00a0 No damage done though and I was soon back on the air.<\/p>\n

G\/LD-001 Log<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Conditions were good and I soon had sixteen contacts in the log, although by the time I finished I had lost all feeling in my fingers.\u00a0 Looking up from the radio I was surprised by how bad the visibility had become.\u00a0 It was total whiteout, then one of the others pointed out my eyebrows.<\/p>\n

Once I had broken my eyes free of the ice we hastily packed up and headed back down.\u00a0 By this time all three of us well chilled.\u00a0 The decent was quick, at times plunging into waist deep snow between the rocks.\u00a0 We did our best to follow the path when we could find it, but mostly it was just follow the compass.\u00a0 Judging by the pains in my fingers as they defrosted I think I had a touch of frost nip in them.\u00a0 The trouble is you just can\u2019t operate a radio with thick winter gloves on your hands. The windchill was well down into double digits.<\/p>\n

Back at the Gill crossing I was relieved to see that it hadn\u2019t got any deeper and we were still able to cross safely.\u00a0 We did pass another party somewhere around here walking up in street level anoraks?<\/p>\n

From here is was now a pleasant walk back to the car, the rain had stopped and the sun was appearing.\u00a0 A great end to another great day out in the mountains.\u00a0 I wasn\u2019t expecting much for this one, just doing it for the SOTA points, but never underestimate the ability of the mountains to surprise, in this case very much to our benefit.<\/p>\n

Journey Details<\/h2>\n

Date \u2013 10th March 2019<\/p>\n

Postcode \u2013 CA20 1EX<\/p>\n

Parking \u2013 NY 182 074<\/p>\n

Radio \u2013 Kenwood TH-D74 + 50W PA on 2m<\/p>\n

Antenna \u2013 MFJ Longranger<\/p>\n

Band \u2013 144 FM<\/p>\n

Contacts \u2013 16<\/p>\n

SOTA points \u2013 10 + 3<\/p>\n

Group \u2013 Myself, Peter and Richard<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Route Profile<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

G\/LD-001, Scafell Pike \u2013 978m, 10 Points Sunday dawned wet and wild.\u00a0 By the time we arrived at the National Trust car park it was tipping down.\u00a0 Suddenly realising that we needed cash for the parking we searched our pockets and managed to find the six pounds required.\u00a0 Checking the machine though it was out … Continue reading Scafell Pike 2019<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":23,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,6,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-132","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","category-english-summits","category-lake-district-summits","category-summits-on-the-air"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.m1cje.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/132","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.m1cje.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.m1cje.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.m1cje.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.m1cje.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=132"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.m1cje.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/132\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":874,"href":"http:\/\/www.m1cje.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/132\/revisions\/874"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.m1cje.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/23"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.m1cje.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.m1cje.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.m1cje.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}