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You’re nails tough, bet you could do it.? No question, that’s the top of the Needle alright!

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Some scoff at my go-light endeavor, but that’s what made my ascent possible.? Entire HF set-up just one pound.? Could have left the pole at home, cut it to a half pound, lay the wire antenna on the rocks, would have worked fine!? Just need … w-a-t-e-r.? ????

Fd

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I did the Needles a few years before I made W5-SOTA a thing.? I made several contacts from up top on FM-only, 6m-2m-70cm-23cm using an Icom IC-T81 H/T.? Several friends were surprised at how well all of those bands propagated from up there.

I do not think I could make that hike today.? We did an over-night, 1 full day up, sleep at the top, one full day down.? I left the ground with 2.5 gallons of water, that is about 21-pounds or water.? 1-1/2 gallons was frozen, 1-gallon was in the bladder for drinking.? I also carried 2 frozen bottles of gator-aid.? We all cached about a half-gallon at about 1/3 of the way up and another half-gallon at 2/3 of the way up.? I needed about 1gal on the way up, drank the gator-aid with dinner and breakfast, and with less than a ?-gallon of water left started back down.? Picking up the two cached refills on the way down, they were fully melted but pleasantly cold, and finished the hike with a couple of cups of water left.



It was an epic adventure.? But I do not think I could do it again, and certainly not in one day!

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Vy73 - Mike - KD5KC.