14,000 feet without a plane

14,000 feet without a plane was Originally Posted on February 10, 2005 by lavarock

My Trip to Mauna Kea Summit to see Hawaiian Snow

The photos and descriptions at Snow.ItsKona.Com http://snow.itskona.com tell only part of the story of my trek up to the summit of Mauna Kea to see the snow. In the year I have lived here, I had not yet been up there. Friends in Waikoloa told me that the summit looked clear Saturday morning, so I decided to fetch them and head up to see the snow and take some photos. That sounds easy enough, doesn’t it?

I didn’t leave my home until late in the morning because I was getting my camera ready and also had to gather a few bags of coffee for the photos. Then it was off to COSTCO to fill up on gas and grab something to eat. I opted for the chicken Caesar salad rather than the hot dog and sauerkraut for personal reasons. Then it was up to Waikoloa to get my friends. Soon we were off to adventure!

First we went across Saddle Road towards Hilo and as we got most of the way to Hilo we made the left onto the Mauna Kea access road. At that point you are already about 7,000 feet above sea level. You drive over a cattle guard (pipes on the road) which allow people and vehicles to cross, but cows find unsteady and refuse to cross. Signs warn you that you are in a free range area for animals and need to take care. That is the first of many varied warnings.

At about the 10,000 foot mark is the visitors center where you are highly encouraged to stop and acclimate yourself to the altitude. Since you will be soon 14,000 feet above sea level, your body will not do well unless it gets used to the altitude. You would get headaches, become confused and worse.

At the center they were giving a presentation in one room and there was complimentary coffee (donation) in another area. Outside there was a telescope set up for public viewing. The most welcome site is indoor restrooms!

On the road we saw many trucks coming down from the summit; their beds filled with snow. At the visitors center a woman was calling AAA because her brakes were not working. My belief is that they had experienced fade due to her hauling a full bed of snow down the mountain with her foot on the brakes. I was not as worried as I was not going to be hauling snow. I used to live in the North East US and I know what snow is like

After half hour to 45 minutes we ascended. Some of the road is paved and some is just cinders. This is NOT a trip for a normal vehicle and you should have a 4-wheel drive (and know how to use it). The mountain is not a visitors area really and there are no creature comforts except for the center below.

We stopped further up and took some photos (people skiing and a snowman). We stopped at a small paved “parking lot” to take my coffee photos. There were perhaps 5 cars there when I got out of the car. I was wearing shorts and a Hawaiian Shirt at the time. Unlike others in shorts, I also brought a pair of jeans in case it got cold. I had to laugh because here I was in shorts and the people across the lot were all bundled up in a parka and wearing a pair of skis. It was not very cold and only after 20 or 30 minutes out there did my back begin to get a bit chilled.

I didn’t realize it at the time, but because of the bright sun and lack of atmosphere, I was squinting in every photo! Oh well. We took a few photos, one where I sat on a rock holding a bag of coffee and another where I am drinking some of my Pele’s Passion Kona. I think I should use that photo as an advertisement for Iced Coffee!

We drove up to the summit and found many people had the same idea. Cars were all over the road and people were playing in the snow and taking photos. It got a bit difficult to determine which observatory was which and there were a few roads which branched off the main road. At one point the paved road became a gravel/cinder road and I doubled back thinking it was going to be a dead end. As the weather had started to close in and the hour was getting late, we opted to leave. You do NOT want to get stuck up there and the road would be treacherous on the way down.

As we took the last of the photos and headed down the mountain, I noticed that when I stepped on the brakes, my foot went all the way down to the floor! This was NOT goode. I pumped the pedal a few times and began looking for a snowdrift, in case we could not stop. The vehicle stopped but I found that the pedal would soon floor out again. At the time I began thinking of all the causes and cures. Perhaps the altitude was causing problems, or perhaps I has some gelling of the fluid or something else having to do with the unique location we were at (close to freezing, little oxygen, high altitude). My mind kept going back to a time in South West Virginia many years ago when my brakes went out as I approached a hairpin turn on a mountainous back road. It was also snowy and icy at the time. Unlike Virginia, at least here people were passing nearby as they descended and we could get help if needed.

I thought I had things under control until we got to a larger area I could pull off the road and investigate. The brakes, although somewhat hot, were not overheated. The fluid looked fine and I had no clue. I was able to regain some control over the brakes and decided that we would chance it on the way down. I went into low gear with low 4-wheel drive and had already practiced using the emergency brake to stop if needed. We averaged about 15 miles per hour down the mountain. You have to understand that this road is very twisty and windy and 2 cars can barely pass each other at some points. There is no guard rails and in many places, going over the side involves many hundreds of feet drop across sharp rocks.

After a wait at the Visitors Center (and a build up to my courage) we opted to keep going. The brakes were generally working and I felt the need to continuously test them to be sure they were working.

We arrived back in Waikoloa in one piece, but I can tell you that although the trip is very memorable, it was not as thoroughly enjoyable as it could have been!