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On December 1, most SOTA summits in Colorado gain an additional 3 points due to the Seasonal (Winter) Bonus. Joyce/K0JJW and I were looking for a summit not too far away that was still accessible for us to activate. This time of year, many US Forest Service roads are gated shut. Other roads remain open but are not maintained, which means they become impassable as the snow accumulates.

Recently, Ray/KD8EQA reminded me of W0C/SP-096, an unnamed summit unofficially known as Bow Tie Mountain. Ray writes:

Once upon a time… many years ago… in a land of many mountains and many activators named Steve… two of the Steves, K7PX and WG0AT, became good friends and would often hike and activate together.  … in the spirit of being silly and having fun… that one or both Steves could be seen wearing a tie during their activations.  Soon, the unofficial challenge was underway to see who could show up with the coolest, “make a statement” tie.  And this quickly led to the ultimate tie statement… a bow tie!  So, guess which summit is credited with being the one where the most memorable, outlandish, bow tie antics took place… the one the Steves refer to as Bow Tie Mountain?  Yup, it’s peak 10214, SOTA reference W0C/SP-096.

The complete Bow Tie Mountain story is here, along with an invitation to come play along. Other SOTA folks have activated SP-096 during the winter months, so it seemed likely to be accessible in early December. There was a couple of inches of new snow on the ground, but it was easy-peasy to drive the Jeep there.

To get to SP-096, head south out of Hartsel on Highway 9. Then turn east/northeast on CR 116. You will drive right past Threemile Mountain (SP-107), a popular summit with year-round access. These two summits can be done together in the same day but opted just to do SP-096.

The parking spot for the trailhead is 38.86462, -10556085. There is an old 4WD road, now closed, that leads up to the saddle just west of the summit. It is an easy hike on the road, then off-trail to the summit. My GPS app clocked it as 0.5 miles one-way and 500 feet vertical. This is about as easy as it gets for a SOTA hike.

Weather

The weather forecast for Dec 1 called for 27 degrees F at the summit, which turned out to be about right. I expected there would be enough wind to drive us off the summit quickly. “Hey, let’s get our four contacts and get the heck out of here.” Instead, the wind was mostly calm, the sun was out, and it was very pleasant.

With the incredible blue sky, the views were stunning in all directions. The fresh snow was just enough to add texture and definition to the various mountains and surrounding slopes.

The 2m band was pretty quiet, but we did manage to work five stations on 2m FM. The best DX for the day was Matt/KF0RIG in Colorado Springs, about 45 miles away. This is not a very long distance for 2m FM, except that Pikes Peak is blocking the way. Matt had a Yagi at his house pointed at Pikes, and we did the same on our end. Somehow the signal got through, perhaps via knife-edge diffraction. I was impressed that we completed the contact.

Try It

This summit seems to be underappreciated, with only 29 activations. About one-third of these were done by one of the Steves (K7PX or WG0AT). This seems to happen with smaller, unnamed summits. But now it’s got a name and the Bow Tie tradition, so you are invited to give it a try.

73 Bob K0NR

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