Now where else could I glean some extra points from? Well, quite remarkably I had not visited Kinder Scout G/SP-001 at all in 2014. Remarkable as it is the fourth nearest summit to my home QTH. Seven points going begging if I could squeeze it in before year end.

The weather was again forecast to be good on Tuesday 30th December 2014. Marianne and Jimmy were both out early to work. Liam and I set out around 10.30am from Macclesfield, for the approximately 45 minute drive through Whaley Bridge and Chapel-en-le-Frith towards the village of Edale. Just before Edale, we turned left for the usual Barber Booth parking area - which was full. I pulled onto the verge opposite the main parking area, as several other vehicles had done.

This approach begins frustratingly with 2km of dreary road walking to Upper Booth and Lee Farm, and then a futher 1km to the foot of Jacob's Ladder. It was perhaps slightly less dreary thanks to the abundance of treacherous icy patches that needed avoiding - or care in traversing. At the stone bridge beneath Jacob's Ladder, we paused for our first snack of the day - milk chocolate covered Ritz crackers - very nice!

       

Jacob's Ladder itself was not pleasant with ice and very compacted snow. I made a mental note to use the more graded alternative of the packhorse track for the descent. Snow and ice remained a problem all the way to the summit from here. The snow wasn't deep and it wasn't wet. However, it had been pounded under hundreds of boots, and was, shall we say "smooth"? Just as slippery as the numerous ice-coated rocks and flagstones anyway.

       

Nonetheless, it was not too disruptive, as we were ascending and our body weight was pushing forward. It was clear though that due care would be required for the late afternoon descent to come. After climbing past Swine's Back and Edale Rocks, we got a glimpse of the white trig point at Kinder Low, 633m ASL. This is around half a mile from the actual summit at 636m ASL, but well within the activation zone, and indeed my intended operating spot. Kinder Low features several lofty boulders, and at least one of them is usually good for shelter. I identified which one was best, and started setting up the 17m groundplane antenna.

        

18MHz was the band of choice today. This was because I had made the grand total of zero CW QSOs on that band in 2014 so far, and therefore it was the best bet to improve my score in G3WGV UK CW Table before scores are finalised after midnight New Year's Eve. (John G3WGV is the founder of SOTA and runs the UK CW Table - http://ukcwtable.g3wgv.com ).

       

Meanwhile, Liam and I made short work of the flask of Baxter's Chicken Broth for our lunch. Liam then focused on gaming with his Nintendo 3DS, and I started calling. After a Russian station answered my first call, it was apparent that the RBNgate had worked its magic, with familiar chaser callsigns coming through.

Although I was carrying a headtorch, I wanted to be at least back at the foot of Jacob's Ladder before darkness fell. As such, I figured I would look to close down the radio side of things around 2.30pm. The 17th and last 17m CW contact came, conveniently, at 1428 UTC, and it only then took one unanswered call before I packed away.

       

Calling on 2m FM with the HT, as promised/alerted prior to descent, brought in three more taking the activation total to 20 QSOs. The underfoot conditions downhill were tricky as anticipated. Well they were for me anyway. Liam seemed to make short work of this and quickly raced into a commanding lead. His green Dunlop wellies seemed to be doing better than my Hi-Gear boots. 

The packhorse alternative was taken to avoid Jacob's Ladder as planned, and as intended, we were back at that stone bridge still in daylight. Now for the mainly level - but very long plod back to Barber Booth. We reached the car under attractive early moonlight at around 4.45pm.  Many thanks to all chasers that called in.