SOTA on Hollyburn Summit

Ralph and I (Eric) hiked Mt. Hollyburn and activated the summit for SOTA. It was the first activation of Hollyburn this season and not surprising as the snow was still fairly deep in places including at the summit. The initial portion of the hike was as expected for a warm July day but as we gained elevation the snow appeared and was fairly deep in places along the trail. Fortunately it was fairly hard packed with a clear mud trail along its surface showing the way forward.

Once we arrived on the summit I set up my 2m Yagi while Ralph got his wire vertical tossed into the small deformed tree at the summit. We had the added fun of contacting another group who were activating the summit across the valley - Black Mountain. I worked that team and then made a number of contacts through out the Fraser Valley. Meanwhile Ralph had successfully completed a number of CW contacts down the coast. We then swapped gear and Ralph made a few 2m calls and I completed a 20m SSB contact with my wife who was at home. While we were working our contacts, other hikers to the summit were asking questions and quite gladly took a small info card I had prepared. The hike down was without incident and soon we were relaxing in the car and starting the drive home.

more photos are available here: https://www.scenicart.ca/content/mt-hollyburn-snow