21 May 2017, SOTA on YO/EC-331 ”Spinarea Lungă”

Essential info for activators

Target summit: 6 pointer YO/EC-331 "Spinarea lunga" - http://www.sota.org.uk/Summit/YO/EC-331
Our Route: At the top of the road from Poiana to Risnov there's a little parking space and a meadow where we've left our car and started climbing on foot. We started on a trail that goes right and into the woods , parallel to the road. When we reached the ridge (extending to our left) we took it and climbed on it all the way to the top. It's an easy summit, but the surface is quite rocky and there are a lot of slippery sticks on the floor.
GPS Track: www.wandermap.net/en/route/3521265-spinarea-lunga-yoec-331-gps/
(download the track by clicking on "Export GPS data").
GSM coverage: Fair.
Summit conditions: Wooded (broadleaved).
Other info: Bears are living in the area. Always make noise and carry a bear spray.

---

Activity report

Despite bad weather forecasts, there was no rain and the temperature didn't drop below a comfortable 15 degrees C. Right at the beginning of the trail we found bear droppings (the area is heavily populated by bears) and we continued cautiously, making constant noise. The wood is made up of broad-leaved trees, even though the top is at an altitude of just over 1000 meters. The soil is a peculiar mix of dirt, rocks and fallen branches and it's not the comfiest to walk on. A slip is waiting to happen and the irregular surface is pretty nasty to fall on. Once on top, there's room to set up between the rocks and dead tree branches. We've activated for about an hour, maybe an hour and a half. Started in 145MHz, then switched to 18 and 14MHz. While in 18MHz the propagation was OK, the 20m band was pretty bad, with a lot of QSB and poor signal strength all around.