Compassberg ZS/EC-002 2014

Compassberg SOTA activation: Sunday, 9 November 2014

I was late getting to the Compassberg farm and Mandy had me on death row or at least due for a public flogging had I not arrived. My arrival not only brought me a reprieve, it also brought them instant joy – with the realization that the heavy load would now be split three ways. All was forgiven, thankfully.

Saturday evening in the Compassberg farmhouse was spent packing, checking, repacking and rethinking everything. Failure was not an option! Forgetting something behind would result in a fate worse than death! Carrying something we did not need was almost as bad, but we would rather err that way.

With everything finalised we set the alarms for 3am hoping to get a good night’s sleep and an early start to make the summit in time for the PEARS bulletin.

As you can imagine, 3am arrived far too quickly. How many of you got up that early to make sure you did not miss the bulletin?

We drove for a few kilometers along the 4×4 track to the point at which we were allowed to park, after which it was a 4km walk to the foot of the mountain. Wild horses on the slopes near the foot of the mountain seemed amused by our presence as they watched us walk by, headlamps lighting our way.

Toward 5am the sun started to rise and the headlamps were turned off. (Yes, there is a 5am, why do you ask?)

At this point we still had warm clothing on, but we soon warmed up as we started the climb. We climbed and climbed and climbed. Then we rested for a few minutes and climbed some more. For the sake of brevity, we will leave it at that.

The actual climb was about 600m vertical taking us
to a height of 2503m above sea level. To put that into perspective, Kilimanjaro is 5895m above sea level and is the highest point in Africa. We climbed to a height of 42% of that
of Kilimanjaro – and that in our own back yard!

Mandy (ZS2AV) led the way with Andrew (ZS2G) and I (ZS2DH) trying to keep up. The load: radio, antenna tuner, 17Ah battery, 4m mast, antenna, coax, and safety kit was getting heavy. The water was getting lighter, but not nearly fast enough!

We were blessed with the weather – a cool calm morning with the wind only picking up near the summit, which we reached just after 8 am. Weather can really make or break a climb like this and we were lucky to have no wind or rain and a temperature suitable for climbing.

The summit of Compassberg is like many other summits I have seen. You think you are nearly there from about half way up! Compassberg seemed to always be a little further up.
Having reached the top and taken the required photos (just touching the trig beacon, no pole dancing pictures allowed!) we set up the station and caught the familiar voice of Chris ZS2AAW reading the news.

We tried to make some 2m contacts into Queenstown, but to no avail. We had (intentionally) left the 2m antenna at the farm and brought only the rubber duckie antennas.

As soon as the post bulletin net was opened by ZS2ABZ we jumped all over the radio making contacts into Bloemfontein (ZS4N), Hout Bay in Cape Town (ZS1KM) and a bunch of the local crowd including ZS2ABZ, ZS2BO, ZS2VDL, and ZS2ZA. Signal reports were all between 57 and 59 and we were very happy with that!

I don’t think I have ever seen Andrew smile quite as broadly as he did when he had his 4 contacts.

Talking over the radio is always a wonder – a miracle of science, but talking over a radio at the top of a mountain is something very special indeed. A sense of freedom, independence, and awe.

Personally, I was worried about the descent. It was steep – I knew that already, but the wind picking up to about gale force and the temperature dropping slightly was enough motivation to move. Following the cairns is a must. Not only for safety, but for motivation too. While they are small milestones, you realise the progress you are making when you get to one and sight the next.

About half way down, the hills around us seemed to grow and the entire perspective changed.

We reached the bottom of the mountain just in time with a few spots of rain being reported by those with enough energy left to do so.

The relatively short 4km walk we had made before sunrise seemed decidedly longer on the way back. As if to torment us, the wild horses ran to and fro across the fields proving they had more energy than we could possibly muster.

The day was wonderful, tiring, but safe and rewarding – and for that we are all grateful.

Given the scientific definition of work being force times displacement (W=Fs), and the fact the we returned to our starting point making the (final) displacement zero, then from a scientific point of view we did no work all day. I assure you, this was not the case.

To the chasers out there who make it fun for us – Thank you! Please keep an ear out for the simulSOTA on 6/7 December – there will be SOTA activations all over the country. More details on the SARL forums.