This activation had lots of firsts for me: it was my first solo SOTA activation, my first previously un-activated summit, my first decent hike in snow shoes, my first activation using my KN-Q7A and my first pileup! Mt Tabletop (VK3/VE-028) is about 10km from Mt Hotham not far from Dinner Plain village. It is a 5.8km hike starting from JB Plain car park that first traverses open flats of the plain before descending quite steeply to a valley floor, passing an alpine marsh and then climbing slowly up a ridge line to the flat top. There is forest the whole way that has been fire affected in places (particularly the top of the mountain). The trees near the top are mostly snow gums and don’t present significant hazards even burnt. In summer the hike is 1.5-2 hours each way, but I took 2.5 hours each way in snow shoes as they slow you significantly. This hike would not be practical on skis due to the density of forest.
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I was staying at Mt Hotham with my family for a week of skiing in the July school holidays, so decided to take advantage of the nearby 10 point peaks (plus a 3 point bonus in winter) for my first SOTA activations.  This trip was also triggered by Allen VK3HRA seeking company for some alpine activations on the SOTA Yahoo group. I had some experience visiting both peaks on cross-country skis and was more than happy to show Allen the way in return for him showing me the ropes of a SOTA activation.
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