February half-term was again the opportunity for us to activate Kinder Scout and claim the winter bonus; this we did on Thursday 19th February 2004.  Bearing in mind our Pennine Way aspirations for future years, we decided this time to take this path from it's traditional start at the Old Nags Head in Edale.  This meant a longer walk, but far more enjoyable than parking at Upper Booth and walking up the roads to the farm.  At Jacob's Ladder, we noticed a more graded alternative to the left, and said we would try that way on the return.  It was a completely different experience from one year ago - we knew the route and enjoyed super visibility and views all day.  The summit was extremely windy, so we set up between two large boulders in order to get what shelter we could.   I spent just under an hour and a half playing radio, and made three summit-to-summit contacts, plus and SWL log of Jack GM4COX/P on Culter Fell SS-049 in Scotland - not bad for a Thursday!

We considered the possibility of navigating across the true summit and descending down the old Pennine Way route via Grindsbrook Clough.  However, Jimmy wanted to return the same way and try out the Jacob's Ladder alternative, so that we did.   I would conclude that descending Jacob's Ladder would be quicker than this alternative.  Back down, we had missed dinner at the Old Nags Head by around 20 minutes, so diverted instead to another hostelry down the road.

Thanks to the following stations worked, all on 2m FM with 1 watts, except M3CKN, G4VSS/M & GW1INK/P where 2.5 watts was used.  GM4COX/P was not worked, this is a SWL log for his activation on Culter Fell SS-049 on 40m SSB.