Pen y Fan - GW/SW-001 SOTA (2022)

Summits on the Air Activation Report

Activation Date: Saturday 22nd January, 2022.
Activator(s): Richard M1HAX.
Summit: Pen y Fan, South Wales, Wales.
Summit ID: SOTA reference GW/SW-001 (8+3 points).
Summit Height: 886m elevation, 672m prominence.
Summit Location: Lat./Long. 51.88403, -3.43677. Maidenhead Grid IO81gv.
Also Activated: GW/SW-004.
Distance: 22.5km travelled with 1230m of ascent.
Difficulty: SAC Grade T2.^(?)
Elapsed Time: 6hr 40m (incl. operating and other summit(s) on the same hike).
Weather: 3°C, light breeze, overcast.
Radio Equipment: Yaesu FTM100D, MFJ-1714, Zippy 4200mAh 4S LiFePo4.
Callsign Used: MW1HAX/P.
Contacts: 20 (2m FM).

Trip Notes

Pen y Fan, standing at 886 metres, is the highest peak in southern Britain and the crowning glory of the Brecon Beacons National Park in Wales. This iconic mountain has been a significant landmark since Bronze Age times, with ancient burial cairns still visible at its summit. Its distinctive flat top makes it recognisable from miles around, attracting thousands of visitors annually to its spectacular panoramic views.

For this SOTA activation hike, I wanted to try approaching from the northern side rather than the more popular western tourist path. I parked at a small car park at the end of Ffrwdgrech Road near Cwm Gwdi, which has limited spaces, so an early arrival is recommended.

The route almost immediately enters the open access land around the mountain. Following the trail south, I passed the disused Cwar Mawr Quarry before beginning the ascent along the Cefn Cwm Llwch ridge. This steady climb leads directly to the summit cairn from the northern side after just under 4 kilometres of walking. Whilst requiring more distance and height gain than the western approach, this route offered welcome peace compared to the busier tourist paths.

Upon reaching the summit mid-morning, I was greeted by a heavy ground frost and a cold wind cutting across the peak. The conditions were challenging but manageable, with overcast skies but reasonable visibility across the Brecon Beacons. The summit was relatively quiet for Pen y Fan, with only a handful of other walkers around.

I set up my Yaesu FTM100D radio station on the ground near the summit cairn and began calling on 2 metres. Despite the cold conditions, I managed a productive activation with 20 contacts in quick succession. Perhaps the highlight was a summit-to-summit contact with Matthew MW0JSB/P operating from Coety Mountain (GW/SW-012).

After completing the SOTA activation, I continued southwest along established footpaths towards my next target, Waun Rydd (GW/SW-004). I’ve written about this leg previously. This added distance to the day’s hike but allowed me to activate a second summit for SOTA. Following my activation of Waun Rydd, I retraced my steps before summiting Cribyn and descending its northeast ridge towards Bryn Teg.

Eventually, I reached a minor road which provided a route to loop back around to my starting point. Here I had a very unlikely encounter with an English tourist who had entered “Pen y Fan” into their car satellite navigation system and was intending to drive all the way to the summit. They seemed genuinely shocked and disappointed when I explained it would require several hours of walking from their current location at the end of the minor road. My initial reaction was that they were pranking me, but they were quite serious!

The northern approach to Pen y Fan offers a refreshing alternative to the standard routes, with quieter paths and more rural views of the Welsh countryside. While more challenging in terms of distance and elevation gain, it provides a more peaceful mountain experience and I would certainly use this route again.

Photos

Below are some photographs taken during my activation of Pen y Fan on Saturday 22nd January, 2022.

Walking Route for Pen y Fan

The interactive map below shows my GPS track taken to the SOTA activation zone for Pen y Fan. Note that this summit was activated as part of a multi-summit hike and the map below shows the full route taken on the day. The GW/SW-001 summit area is marked on the map with a blue pin icon.

You can download the route shown above as a GPX file suitable for use with most GPS devices. This file is provided for information only, to support your own walk planning and research (it may contain navigation errors, detours and/or safety hazards). The route downloads provided here are governed by the Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0 licence.

Station Log

I logged the following 20 amateur radio contacts operating as MW1HAX/P from GW/SW-001 Pen y Fan on Saturday 22nd January, 2022 (all times shown are UTC):

In the notes field I will usually log the other operator’s name and the signal report they provided. In accordance with the Summits on the Air rules, I do not make a log entry where a complete exchange of callsigns and signal reports was unsuccessful.

Additional Information

The following resources may be helpful to walkers, mountaineers and SOTA activators interested in Pen y Fan:

• Sotl.as Summit Page for GW/SW-001 Pen y Fan.
• Hill Bagging UK Summit Page for Pen y Fan.
• Google Maps Page for Pen y Fan.
• Wikipedia entry for Pen y Fan.

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