Hawaii & visiting te Scopes

Hi all,

I am planning on visiting Hawaii in February and I would like to visit the
scopes. (I have people with contacts there so permission not a prob)

Has anyone been there before? and is a visit to the scopes a 2 day job or
can you do it in a day? I believe you have to stay up 1 evening to
acclimatize?

any thoughts and experiences

cheers

Andy

--
Mr Andrew R Green B.Sc(Hons) FRAS.

The summit of Mauna Kea provides dramatic scenery and an unforgettable
visitor experience.

Guests with 4-wheel drive vehicles are permitted to the 14,000-foot
summit of Mauna Kea, weather permitting. The W. M. Keck Observatory
provides a visitor's gallery with a 15-minute video, interactive kiosk,
two public restrooms and a viewing area with partial views of the Keck
I telescope and dome (look for the blue door).

Gallery hours are 10 a.m.- 4 p.m., Monday-Friday.
Free tours are provided Saturday and Sunday at 1:00p.m. by the Onizuka
Visitor Information Station www.ifa.hawaii.edu/info/vis/ at the
9,200-foot basecamp at Mauna Kea. The center also provides free
stargazing programs every night of the week, beginning at sunset.
Information about the observatories and the environmental, cultural and
geological features of Mauna Kea is available. For information, please
call (808) 961-2180.

We're sorry, but the W. M. Keck Observatory does not provide tours at
this time.

For those who do not plan on making the full-day excursion to the
summit, Keck Observatory provides a display area in its headquarters
lobby in Waimea featuring the same interactive kiosk and video as the
summit.

Safety reminder: The summit of Mauna Kea at nearly 14,000-feet
altitude, presents unique challenges to visitors. Visits to the summit
require a 30 minute acclimatization stop at the 9,200-foot Onizuka
Visitor's Center, warm clothing for the summit, sunscreen for
protection from excessive UV radiation, and water. A four-wheel-drive
vehicle is required beyond the 9,200 foot level as the air is too thin
to adequately cool a vehicle's brakes upon descent.

Temperatures on the summit can fall to 20 (F) ( -4 (C)) within a matter
of hours; it is highly recommended that all visitors to the summit take
warm clothing and sturdy footgear sufficient to withstand the elements
should the vehicle break down. High winds on the summit can often
result in blowing snow, sleet, fog and sometimes, flying rocks. Winds
can reach 150 mph; beyond 75 mph vehicles are at risk for being blown
off the road.

The summit of Mauna Kea is one of the most remote locations in the
Islands. Medical and auto help is a minimum of two hours away. Most car
rental companies void the rental contract if their cars are driven on
Saddle Road and to the summit. It is a safety requirement of the
road-maintenance organization for the summit that all vehicles driving
up and down the mountain beyond the Hale Pohaku basecamp be
four-wheel-drive vehicles.
Caution is advised.


http://www.keckobservatory.org/visiting.php

I visited the summit of Mauna Kea in August 2002, and my comments on
this great advice.

In article .com,
Don't Be Evil wrote:

Safety reminder: The summit of Mauna Kea at nearly 14,000-feet
altitude, presents unique challenges to visitors. Visits to the summit
require a 30 minute acclimatization stop at the 9,200-foot Onizuka
Visitor's Center,

Even if you do this, you *will* notice the lack of oxygen. I certainly
did. Be prepared for it and come back down to the visitor centre if you
feel unwell.

warm clothing for the summit,

Absolutely. The day I went (August, remember) it was sleeting at the
summit. In February you will probably have snow (Mauna Kea means "White
Mountain" if I remember correctly, precisely because of its winter snow
cap)

sunscreen for
protection from excessive UV radiation, and water. A four-wheel-drive
vehicle is required beyond the 9,200 foot level as the air is too thin
to adequately cool a vehicle's brakes upon descent.

Absolutely. There's only one vehicle rental company that lets you go up
on the Saddle road, let alone to the summit of the mountain. Harker's,
or some such name. The road is not metalled all the way, so it can be
pretty dusty. And the descent is definitely the scary bit. You really
will want the vehicle in the lowest gear you can find.

The visitor centre half way up the mountain has some reasonable
telescopes, and offers observing sessions. We had been planning to do
this, but the weather was awful. Typical. I go to just about the best
observation site on the planet, and it's ****ing cloudy. Grr.

In fact, we were unlucky with the weather for the entire week. We had
about half a day's sunshine the entire time we were on Big Island
(fortunately on the day we went to see the eruption at Kilauea)

Tim

Mauna Kea. My wife and I visited last October - it was the highlight of
our trip to the Big Island. The starwatching part of it was cut short
by cloud - and a few of us were upset because the visitor centre noted
that the cloud would clear within 30 minutes but the minibus driver
would not wait due to "personal problems" *but* further down the
mountain he did stop and spend some time stargazing so all was not lost
although being on the apparently tallest mountainous structure on Earth
and not taking full advantage of it seemed a terrible shame. We left
Kona at about 2pm and arrived back about 10pm.

As noted above, we were not insured to drive up there and we were glad
we didnt anyway - as an asthmatic I was more concerned about the
effects of oxygen deprevation would have on driving anyway - but we
noticed no real problems.

Enjoy it.

"Andy G" wrote in message
...
Hi all,

I am planning on visiting Hawaii in February and I would like to visit the
scopes. (I have people with contacts there so permission not a prob)

Has anyone been there before? and is a visit to the scopes a 2 day job or
can you do it in a day? I believe you have to stay up 1 evening to
acclimatize?

any thoughts and experiences

cheers

Andy

--
Mr Andrew R Green B.Sc(Hons) FRAS.



I've observed there. The sky at the 9,200 foot level where the Onizuka
Visitors' Center is located is often covered by cloud, even when the summit
is clear. But when it does clear the nights are very dark. Without the
24-hours acclimatization at the astronomers' lodge next door I wouldn't have
risked the ascent to the peak. With it I seemed to be fine, except for
persistent headaches the first 36 hours, so common amongst astronomers there
that aspirin and paracetamol are called "mountain candy".

30 minutes sounds faintly ludicrous as an adjustment period.

Being offered the wheel of the 4-wheeled vehicle for the trip down the road
from the mountain was definitely exciting. We survived.

Some rental cars do allow use of the saddle road and travel as far as the
lodge, but not to the summit. I think I used National. The saddle road
itself rises to around 6,000 feet and is one of the most spectacular drives
you can take anywhere, but the road was in a poor condition, with
axle-breaking potholes due in part to industrial and military traffic.
Meting something big coming the other way is pretty hairy as the road is cut
through lava and in places there isn't much of a hard shoulder. Maybe they
have fixed it since. On one side you start in a desert with a scattering of
volcanic cones, rise to a lush pastureland, then descend into a lava field
which gradually gains more and more tropical vegetation as you descend to
Hilo.

Sounds as if there is a niche market for an enterprising local with a
4-wheel-drive vehicle that can take passengers up.

--
Mike Dworetsky

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