Black Mountain GW/SW 041

Summit Information for GW/SW-041
Black Mountain   703 m ASL, 6 points

Association Wales, Region South Wales

Latitude 52 0 30 N   Longitude 3 5 12 W

Grid Ref. SO255 350  Locator IO81KA

I arrived at the car park at SO239  at around 10.15 where there is room for 10-12 cars. I headed straight towards the summit and after a few hundred meters I picked up a well defined  path to the south cutting diagonally up the mountain. After a while the path doubles back on itself back towards the summit.

Shortly after  the trig point the path splits, to the left takes you up to the activation zone, the path to the right goes on towards Twmpa and eventually to Waun Fach.

On arrival at the activation zone, I battled with the wind to get the 2m  antenna  up and found myself a nice little nook to shelter in.  

There's a good VHF take off from here and it wasn't long before I managed to activate the summit.

Many thanks to all the stations listed below for their assistance in activating Black Mountain.

73

Mal  GW6OVD

View from car park at SO239732

View from path at Hay Bluff 

Car park at Hay Bluff

Trig point at  SO244366

Lord Hereford's knob (Twmpa)

Todays route

Log for GW6OVD/P

Time	Callsign	Band	Mode	Notes	Summit
11:20	G7TAS	144MHz	FM	Ray	G/SP-004
11:22	2E0ZVR	144MHz	FM	Barry
11:25	G0LGS	144MHz	FM	Stewart
11:27	2E0MDJ	144MHz	FM	Matt
11:28	G3RMD	144MHz	FM	Frank
11:31	G3LVP	144MHz	FM	Ken
11:33	G0EVY	144MHz	FM	Dave
11:35	M6PYG	144MHz	FM	Geoff
11:37	G8ILP	144MHz	FM	Tim
11:40	G0WIS	144MHz	FM	Geoff
11:43	G3VKV	144MHz	FM	Graham
11:46	M0GSX	144MHz	FM	Paul
11:48	M0IBC	144MHz	FM	Dave
11:50	G4CIB	144MHz	FM	Brian
11:52	2E0YYY	144MHz	FM	Mike	G/WB-004
11:56	2E0RHI	144MHz	FM	Tony
11:57	G3NKS	144MHz	FM	Derek

GW/SW-005

Summit Information for GW/SW-005

Fan Fawr - 734m, 6 points

Association: Wales  Region: South Wales   

Latitude: 51 51 45 N, Longitude: 3 29 49 W

Grid Reference: SN 970193, QTH Locator: IO81GU  

First Snow of The Winter

My starting point today was the lay by usually used for  access to Pen y fan at

SN983 199 (446M ASL). The lay by was unusually quiet today but then, it was a bit nippy!

Crossing the main road to the stile I headed diagonally across to the right to pick up the main path at SN 974-196.  This route is very boggy in places so I was grateful the ground was frozen solid.  Visibility was down to 50m by this time and the path started to rise steeply.  At the summit conditions were a little harsh and there was no shelter to be found.  I quickly managed to activate the summit and was on my way  back down just as it started to snow heavily again.

If you are planning to visit this summit in adverse conditions I strongly recommend you use GPS 

Starting point at the foot of Pen y Fan

View from the steeper part of the path as the mist cleared for a moment.

Near  the top the path levels out a little

Not much to see at the summit, at least,not today!

Back at the starting point the snow was starting to stick