Camping in Kosczisko National Park provides easy access to a number of sota summits, some are easy to access, and some require a bit of a walk, over the last week or so we have activated a number of summits on the local area. As well as explored the area.

VK2/SM-065 Box Ridge.

This summit is a nice easy drive to one. We had to head into Jindabyne, the local town and restock some supplies for the campsite and i told the family they had to come with me for a summit / Activation. I had forgotten i’d activated this already this year (as my new years day 2014 roll over summit). We headed up the hill, and parked in the activation zone, went for a short stroll out and back in to qualify and played radio for a short period of time.

It also allowed Chrisitne to operate the summit and collect her activator points.

Date:26/Dec/2014 Summit:VK2/SM-065 (Box Ridge) Call Used:VK3BQ Points: 0 Bonus: 0

VK2/SM-007 Mt Perisher.

I hate this summit! its too steep, the road path I used last year is slippery and rough, the “bush bashing” way up everyone else says is easy is even harder, walking through snow grass and undergrowth. We set off after a visit to Charlottes pass, but the little child had decided he was not interested in a walk today and about 50m up the hill, in the terrible conditions he refused to go on, Christine and the kids returned the car and I quickly (as I could) scrambled up the hill to the activation zone, found a rock and set myself up for a quick activation.

Not many photos from this one, the march flies were horrible, the wind strong, i just wanted it over with and to head back down.

Date:27/Dec/2014 Summit:VK2/SM-007 (Mt Perisher) Call Used:VK3BQ Points: 10 Bonus: 0

VK2/SM-014 The Cascades

The weather Sunday was nice, and i talked the family into another walk. The cascades walk is a nice walk, a little steep on the last uphill section but the kids were both back to being happy and we set off for the walk. One of the other campers locally to us had done the walk Saturday and seen some wild brumbies, but my kids are SO noisy, if their were any around, we scared them off with the noise. Its around 5.5km to the activation zone, it took us just over 2hrs of walking time at 5 year olds pace! Once at the top, you need a short bush bash into the scrub to get into the activation zone, we set ourselves up using a dead tree as a seat/pole support next to some rocks which the kids headed off to climb. We spent a bit of time on this activation working lots of stations, Christine also activated and qualified the summit, having a chat with some friends on 40m who are 4wd trekking on the victorian side of the ranges. I even tried 6m, but didn’t have any luck.

Date:28/Dec/2014 Summit:VK2/SM-014 (The Cascades) Call Used:VK3BQ Points: 10 Bonus: 0

VK1/AC-043 Mt Stromlo

The kids are pretty Big on science, and they really enjoy Questacon, the national science centre in Canberra. The weather report for the mountains was going to be horrible, so we packed everyone up early and drove to canberra. I dumped the family at Questacon and set off for a local canberra summit. Earlier in the year id activated one of the other local hills, so headed for Mt Stromlo. I drove to near the top and grabbed the gear, walked back down the hill and then setup on the lawn opposite one of the telescope domes. The telescopes burnt in the bushfires in the early 2000’s.. I was early enough to active pre UTC roll over and got two days of activations in. I even managed to activate the summit on 50MHz working 5 canberra locals on 6m. After packing up, i headed back to join the family for an afternoon of science at Questacon..

Date:28/Dec/2014 Summit:VK1/AC-043 (Mt Stromlo) Call Used:VK3BQ Points: 1 Bonus: 0

Date:29/Dec/2014 Summit:VK1/AC-043 (Mt Stromlo) Call Used:VK3BQ Points: 0 Bonus: 0