Capturing the Art of Nature
Mount Agassiz in April
We had hoped to hike to the summit and make radio contacts but we got ‘Aprilled’
Category
Serendipitous Discoveries
Summits on the Air
2019
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The week earlier was our original date for hiking the mountain but it ended up being a wet morning and being the fair weather hikers that we are, we stayed home (in bed?). So along came the next week-end and it looked to be a lovely day though there was a chance of some light rain up the valley. Ralph came by at the regular time and we were off to the start of the logging road. We planned to double dip on this trip and once done with the hike we were going to do some scouting for our field day location as we backtracked along the forestry road. The initial drive went smoothly and we made better time this week as the traffic seemed a bit lighter. On the road I remembered looking up at some of the mountains we were passing and commented on what appeared to be a whiteness near the top which I thought was odd at the time.
The drive along the forestry road was quite fast, we encountered only a single atv and motorcycle heading up just ahead of us, otherwise the drive was solitary – so nice. We soon arrived at our parking spot and where we would delve into the trees for the summit. By now there was a bit of freezing rain falling leaving us covered in a bit of white stuff, but it was light and we felt we could ignore it as it would likely end soon. Once into the trees I started following my old gps track and tying some markers to trees as I passed. By now the snow was coming faster and the ground was turning white even here hidden in the trees. We pushed on but the ground was covered and picking steps on the thick mossy floor was getting a bit challenging. Soon the whole slope was white with little visibility and we were both getting cold from the snow which was piling upon us as much as on the ground. So after having completed about a third of the distance we decided to abort and head back to the truck. It was now harder to find ones way but my marked trees did help a bit.
Back at the truck we noticed that everything was buried in snow/hail an inch deep! The area had transformed from a spring day to a winter one in a few minutes. We quickly got in to the truck and got the heater going to warm up. We missed the activation but next on the agenda was scouting for a field day location. From Google Earth I had picked a spot further along the ridge, so we set out for that location to see if it was as nice as it appeared. Along the road we came by a fallen tree which was blocking the way forward. I felt we could pull it, so I attached a chain and tried pulling the lower end but it was hung up and didn’t move. So I decided to try to pull off the high end but this needed to go the opposite direction so the snatch block and winch would be required. This attempt worked well and we soon had the log off the road.
Continuing on to the chosen site left us disappointed as what looked open to the south on the map proved to be blocked by a rock wall in real life! So that site would not work for us. By now the hail had stopped and we were starting to see some patches of blue sky; everything was looking more cheerful. Since this spot was not workable we back tracked a bit to side spur and after pushing another tree aside we came by a decent location. It was around 1pm so we decided to stop to eat some lunch. After eating we noticed that we were now overly close to the high voltage transmission lines and we were concerned how it may impact our radios. Being hams with gear we decided to test out the reception, we stretched out an antenna and my KX3 and checked the bands. It seemed to be reasonable but we were still uncertain.
Having found a workable spot we decided to start back for home but we were still going to review every option for an alternate location in case a better spot came by. We did get out and evaluate a few spots but most had too much blockage to the east which is what we required. We finally came by a longer spur down the south slope of Mount Woodside but after driving it a short way we decided it dropped down too far and so we returned to the main line and continued out. A short distance along we looked down the slope and saw that spur, it actually looked better than we first thought so we decided to return to it and drive further along to the spot we saw from above.
The spur did drop a bit but it wasn’t that low and we came by a section along the road that fit all our demands. The sky was open to the south through east and would work for field day. The view was lovely and there were sufficient trees to attach antennas to. So this spot became our first choice for an operating location for field day. Now for a bit more planning of antennas and food and we should be ready to return and make a few contacts in late June.
Well we missed the summit and making contacts but we found a nice location for field day and by now the sun was out and the white stuff melted so it was getting warm and pleasant. I will need to come back and activate this mountain later this year.