28 May 2017, SOTA on YO/EC-360 "Bursunarul"

Essential info for activators

Target summit: 6 pointer YO/EC-360 "Bursunarul" - http://www.sota.org.uk/Summit/YO/EC-360
Our Route: We've left the car in the parking lot of Valeni Stinisoara's church (at the main road), the walked to the Suha Mare creek, crossed it and started the climb. The forest road is closed by a barrier, so there's no point in crossing the stream and risk to get stuck there. The mountain has some peculiar forest roads (the main one at the bottom of the valley and five more) that go parallel to one another on the contour line. We've picked the top most one and followed it for a while, but it's kind of sunny, so we switched to the darker ridge line after a while. Despite the short 3 kilometer climb, it's quite a steep and demanding 6 pointer, especially on hot days.
GPS Track: ​http://www.wandermap.net/en/route/3522419-bursunarul-sota-yoec-360-gps/
(download the track by clicking on "Export GPS data").
GSM coverage: So and so.
Summit conditions: Wooded (mostly broadleaved).
Other info: Didn't see any bear droppings, marks or ... bears. Locals said there weren't too many in the area. Anyway, I bet there are bears everywhere in these mountains so be on the safe side and always make noise and carry a bear-spray with you.

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Activity report

We only decided to go in the morning. The day was hot unlike any other so far. At the start of the trail there is a small river which we initially thought we'd have to cross on foot, through the water. We parked the car and returned to find an improvised foot bridge. Woohoo! The climb was steeper and a lot longer than the maps conveyed. The heat didn't help either. It took us about 2 hours to get on the top. The woods are nice, though, with rocks scattered around the ridge and a trail that reminded us of medieval movies. One side of the ridge, though, the eastern face, is almost vertical and the fall is probably around 30 meters in places. It's nothing to worry about, since the other side is safe to walk on, but the foliage, trees and plants mask the danger of the eastern chasm.

The summit is completely forested and thus in shade. There are big rocks on which one can set up the radio equipment nicely. We've used a bigger rock as a table and a smaller one, next to it, as a bench. This was probably the comfiest spot since our activation on Bîtca (YO/EC-476). Propagation was poor, sadly, and we walked away with only a handful of QSOs. We made plenty of contacts with the people on our local group in 145, 433, 18 and 14 MHz. Some were at home, some on their own SOTA expeditions (Toaca).

We packed up early (it was actually cold on the summit) and descended on the same route as we climbed. Halfway down, the heat wave engulfed us once again.