Mark ZL3AB and I have discussed this potential double for a while but this was my first opportunity to try it. The two mountains are opposite each other with Jacks Pass in between. Another weather window presented itself, between 30 degree days late in the week and a wet period beginning Sunday - let's do it!
Conservative as always, I allowed a couple of hours for the trip to Hanmer and 1 1/2 hours for the ascent of Mt Isobel from Jacks Pass. As it turned out, I was way too conservative as we were walking by 7:40am NZDST and on the summit an hour later. A full hour prior to our alerted time. Mt Isobel is acknowledged as Canterbury's most climbed peak and today was proof of that. There were 4 cars in the carpark when we arrived and we met 2 parties heading up and one coming down on our ascent. We got set up on the summit, well away from the trig to minimise annoyance for others, sent out some alerts and text messages and go into it. I got my 4 contacts on 2m and Dave had a nice pile on 40m. Thanks to those who were listening early - we really appreciate it. I jumped on HF and worked Phil ZL1PSH (strong from his new home station) and Chris F4WBN on both 40m and 20m! By this time, the heat was building and several more parties were arriving at the summit so we decided to get moving to avoid climbing Dumblane in the heat of the day. Sadly we missed Warren ZL2AJ on his summit by a few minutes - we were walking off the summit when his message came through... (I might need to make a loaded, telescopic whip for 40m situations like this)
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| View back towards Christchurch from Mt Isobel, Hanmer springs in the foreground |
We carefully picked our way back down to Jacks Pass, a quick stop at the car to replenish water and take on some calories and off to Dumblane, adjusting our Sotawatch alert time to on the way.
I had promised Dave that we wouldn't be bothered by the same number of visitors on Dumblane as it is not so well known... Now fully poled and obviously well used, we encountered two parties at the summit! The climb was uneventful however hot in places, my temperature sensor recorded 30 degrees C in one section. Average temp was 23, we wouldn't have wanted it to be any warmer.
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| View from Dumblane back to Mt Isobel. Jacks Pass road with the car park (left) and the start of the Mt Isobel track visible. |
Set up here was the same as the previous, EFHW and KX2. We worked Rick ZL3RIK at his Castle Hill Park and locals on 2m and 70cm. Good conditions on the higher HF bands saw contacts with Taiwan, Japan (S2S) and USA.
Worked the UTC rollover, had lunch at 1:30pm NZDST and headed down.
A big day but very rewarding and good fun. The views back over Hanmer Springs and into the back country are great.
Summary:
Permision - none needed, both summits are on Conservation Land. Dumblane is also in WWFF - ZLFF-0044 and POTA ZL-0269 Hanmer Forest Park. Careful location of the operator at Mt Isobel could also place you in the park and SOTA AZ but we did not try this.
Timings:
Jacks Pass to Mt Isobel - 1 hour, 3 km, 500 m vertical
Mt Isobel to Jacks Pass - also 1 hour, there are several sections where extreme care is needed descending.
Jacks Pass to Dumblane - 1 hour 10 minutes, 3.3 km, 466 m vertical
Dumblane to Jacks pass - also 1 hour - tired knees by this point!
Total - 12.54 km and 1051 m vertical
