Tuesday 23 February 2016

SOTA - Sugar Loaf - GW/SW-011

Sugar Loaf - 596m, 2 points
Association: Wales Region: South Wales
Latitude: 51 51 46 N, Longitude: 3 3 30 W
Grid Reference: SO 272188, QTH Locator: IO81LU


I started off for Sugar Loaf from the carpark in Forest Coal Pit to the north east of the summit.
This is a nice ascent from this side. This is a popular summit and for the first time I met several others ascending and descending from this side.

Approach from the NE

It's a fair pull up to the top, and as I arrived I was surprised to find probably 30 or 40 people already there around the trig point. This is a really narrow summit with only a small amount of real estate, so I took myself off to the eastern flank and tried to install myself out of the way of the public. As I was setting up a group of about 20 more people were ascending just below me.

Squeezing into a tight spot
 It was almost 1600z by the time I got on the air, and with sunset at 1730 and an hour's walk out, I didn't loose any time in getting down to business. I quickly rattled off 34 QSO's in the next 30 minutes, alas no S2Ss or time to search around for any.

Log
The shack


The summit was now long devoid of any other visitors, most having left not long after I arrived. The temperature was dropping rapidly with the setting sun and I quickly packed up and started on the trek back to the car.
Summary
Log2Map
The setting sun brought out the rich colours of the surrounding hills, a perfect end to a great day activating.

The summit to myself.


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