WV SOTA Attempt

Last weekend's adventure: climbing up to North Fork Mountain in West Virginia (W8V/PH-066) to try and do a Summits on the Air activation with my 5-watt handheld and a roll-up J-pole antenna. I couldn't make any 2m or 70cm simplex contacts so I didn't successfully activate the summit, but at least the view was great! I was also able to reach a few stations via the WA4TSC repeater in Bluemont VA (~77 miles line of sight from the mountaintop).
Do any fellow PARCsters have experience or advice on SOTA operations? I'm working on my general and will probably try to pick up a FT-891 or similar radio that I can take on backpacking trips and use for HF work. 
-Ian, KC3RHN