DJ (WW7D) and I (WU7H) saved this one for our 2025/2026 UTC rollover activation. We have done Keechelus in the winter before and it is usually a very reliable winter summit -- there is a groomed snowmobile trail that gets you close enough to the summit to snowshoe up. We attempted to do this as a UTC rollover back in 2019 but it was raining heavily (even at 5000') and we were so wet, cold, and miserable we bailed before the UTC rollover. This year we got lucky - it was a bluebird day!
We were not sure we would be able to get there this year. The last report for Kachess Sno-Park said they were still waiting for the road to close before they could start grooming. We rolled the dice and got lucky. There had not been any grooming, but the road was closed and there was enough snow. Lots of other snow machines had been up, so the trail was very 'whooped out' but otherwise it was ok. It took us less than an hour to reach the old tower site, which is where the hike starts. The snow was nice and deep up there, a good 5 to 6 feet of powder, which made for some strenuous snowshoeing. Luckily the hike is only about 1.2 mi roundtrip, though it is very steep.
We soon arrived on summit with lots of time to spare. I dragged along a tent so we could have a little comfort since we were going to be on the summit for several hours. I set up the tent while DJ got the antenna up, and soon enough we were on the air. The bands were hopping and we made a lot of QSOs. It wasn't exactly comfortable in the tent, but it was MUCH better than being outside in the freezing wind. After UTC rollover we stuck around for about 45 mins before going QRT. It was getting dark and we were getting cold - it was time to pack it up and head back to civilization!
In all we made 25 S2S QSOs before UTC (one with Japan!), and 17 S2S QSOs after. We also had very productive runs on 20 / 40 CW. We didn't end up doing any 2m because it would require getting out of the tent and we were very busy with HF.
It was fun to talk to so many of our SOTA friends on NYE. Wishing everyone a happy and productive 2026!
73,
Josh WU7H
