Giaka’s kop and Hogsback. Again.

March 8, 2015. The day we finally activated Giaka’s kop near Hogsback. It was becoming a bit of a nemesis!

After several failed attempts to summit and activate Gaika’s Kop (ZS/EC-004, 1963m ASL) with reasons mainly related to weather, we were determined to do it this weekend – come what may!

Friday afternoon, 6 March, I travelled through to Hogsback and met up with Hennie (ZS2HC) the rockspider from East London. It was almost like we had never been apart since our New Years trip which included Ben Machdui and of course a stay in Hogsback! I get out of the car to be greeted by sarcasm. I give as good as I get, let me tell you.

We setup the tents and start a braai. A pleasant evening until the wind comes up near gale force! We were not sure where we would wake up, but knew we were both heavy enough to keep the tents in the Swallowtail camping site!

That night we lost 2 Klaus masts. Enough said – they are not for bad weather, but fine masts for fine weather. Hennie’s mast was up and shattered in two places while mine took a knock near the top of the mast whilst it was lying down. With a bit of luck mine can be repaired, but Hennie’s is to become static at his QTH. He has plans to fiberglass it up permanently.

Saturday was the most amazing morning! No wind, no clouds, just absolutely stunning. It got hot at midday, but we were just lazing around anyway! We had plans of cutting dipoles but we managed to supress the urges and just do nothing! We chatted on the radio for a bit and we worked a station in California!

Saturday afternoon we did the scout mission to the foot of Gaika’s kop – the abandon lookout. This was officially closer than I’d ever been! We found our way through the forest roads, carefully marking the turns on the GPS. Next time we do this it will be pre-dawn!

Saturday evening was another memorable evening. We setup my big rig (100W of awesome Yaesu power going out on a dipole for 20m and 40m) We had a wonderful evening ragging Zulu Alpha (Andre) as to who was the “bad boy”. Naturally it was not me 😉

Sunday morning came and we set off to “slay the mighty dragon” only to realise the mist was reducing visibility to a handful of meters. A failed attempt by the dragon to put us off yet again. Never! Up at the look out tower we could not even see Giaka’s kop! We waited as long as we dared (wanting to be on the air as promised at 830-9am), but eventually decided to get a move on.

Navigating by GPS we managed to climb into the mist and soon lost sight of the car, the look out tower, and everything around us. Thankfully the terrain is not dangerous and the GPS could see where we were going. We reached the summit with the mist robbing us of what must be an awesome view.

We set up just below the summit where we found some rather flat ground and got listening on the radio to a bunch of ZS6 stations but could not break in. We switched over to 7.098 and found the familiar voices on the PEARS post bulletin net.

About 9.30 the mist started to lift and I took the opportunity of climbing the last few meters and was rewarded with a (small) view, but a view none the less. A fleeting moment and that was it! The mist closed up again for our descent.

Giaka’s Kop is an easy climb and easily accessed through the forestry office – with a very helpful manager! He gave us maps, advice, and a big thumbs up for doing it!

Of the four peaks at Hogsback, Giaka’s has been the hardest to get up – not physically, but logistically. Well, that said, we still have to activate Hog1, but Menziesberg (ZS/EC-010) and Tor Doone (ZS/EC-012) were easy-peasy! 3 down, 1 to go.

A big thank you to all the chasers and hams out there that make this possible – without the QSOs we can’t get the points!

73, Dave