19 Mar 2017, SOTA on YO/EC-585 "Alunisului"

Essential info (for activators)

Target summit: YO/EC-585 "Alunișului" - http://www.sota.org.uk/Summit/YO/EC-585
Our Route: One of the shortest routes for a 6 pointer out there. The climb is medium steep but only one and a half kilometers long . It starts on a dirt trail on a grassy hill which then goes up into the forest. Soil tends to be quite sticky when wet.
GPS Track: http://www.wandermap.net/en/route/3512634-alunisului-gps-sota-yoec-585/ (download by clicking on "Export GPS data").
Summit conditions: Wooded, but not too thick that you can't find a place to set up your rig. A ridge trail passes right on the top. Max altitude just under 1000m, mostly beech trees.

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Activity report

We decided to activate the summit the same morning because I (YO8SBR) got a cold and didn't know it sooner if I would be able to drag myself out of the den. The summit picked was one that we considered before for its apparent simplicity. The weather was shifty, one minute sunny, the other blizzardy. Marian joined us in this trip, despite the weather and the short notice. The tarmac road took us right at the base of the summit, 1.5 kilometers away. At the base the snow was gone, but only 100 vertical meters above seemed as the winter was still in full force. The wind blew quite strongly, but the forest alleviated its effects.

It seems that radio contacts are ever harder to make, be it because propagation (the lack of) or contests.