Rain, Mauna Kea, Skiing, and Altitude Sickness

[1voyager1]

@ GoingFeral
We definitely have a difference in philosophy.
But, there's room out there for everyone.

My gear dates back to the late '90s.
Tuas, just as the tele skis began to widen,
the 2nd iteration of the T3s,
and I never saw any need to graduate beyond 75mm 3 pins to bear traps or heavier.
I always kept my gear as light as I could and still get my turns under as varied of conditions as possible.
Never saw a need to upgrade from what I had.
That's the reason my gear is so beat up, but still servicable.


I am, and always have been, a cruiser but have gotten a lot of enjoyment out of the steeper slopes too.
I'm now in my mid 70's and haven't had the skis on for at least 8 years.
I will stick to cruising this time, probably also making a lot bomb craters.
I've had my epic ski adventures.
Fun is my goal of the day.
Plus, I agree, the late morning, early afternoon snow conditions should be divine.

Enjoy yourself and be safe.
It's no fun if you can't do it again.

[TomK]

The summit access road was re-opened to the public this afternoon (Friday).

[1voyager1]

You got my heart to pounding Tom.
Just took a look at the MKWC site.
They say the road is still closed.
But, I think they're lying to me.
I hope.

Winds look to be forecast as more moderate tomorrow and sweet on Sunday.
I'm thinking of taking off early tomorrow to go up and scout the area, maybe even lay some tracks.
Definitely on Sunday also, if everything looks OK.
I'm hoping that I'll be a physical wreck by Monday if everything goes well.

I found my old sun block stick while digging around today.
I used to use it for long multi-day glacier and icefield trips at altitude.
After a few days on the glaciers, my face would look like old shoe leather.
But, I'd never burn.
I always thought it was an SPF 15.
It's only an SPF 5.
I've always been very resistant to sunburn.
I guess, I'm even more resistant than I thought.

I'll check the MKWC site and call the road hotline in the morning.
No matter what they say, I'll probably take a run up there anyway, just to see what I can see.

It would be outrageous if I could get first track in the area I'm liking to try.
I had given up on that many years ago.
It was so much easier to let the younger guys go in first and break trail.
They would get first tracks, and earned the rights to them.

I'm beginning to get excited.
I may have trouble getting to sleep tonight.

My brother's grandson and a friend of his disappeared a few weeks ago during an early season back country snow boarding trip on Mt. Baker down in Washington.
Little doubt they won't be found before spring.

I mentioned a ways back about giving a link to my online photo album.
I began to search out more ski photos, found a few but didn't find the ones I was looking for.
So, I've given up on it again for an while.
Most of what is in the gallery are paddling photos with a few from ski trips.

I'm taking a break from working with it again.
I still have a multitude of photos to get organized and put up.
It is a work in progress still in its very early stages:
http://www.mrcorrell.com/

I'm getting tired.
My mind and thought are wandering around aimlessly, partly due to excitement, partly due to fatigue.

[TomK]

The observatories get emails from the rangers about road conditions, and we've not received one about the road being closed tonight. However, the road was definitely opened on Friday afternoon and confirmed by the views from the observatory webcams.

I checked the MKWC road conditions web page and it does say the road is closed due to ice, but none of the observatories have been informed and I've not received any automatic ice warnings from a detector MKSS placed at UKIRT.

To say I'm a little miffed would be an understatement. I'll email the relevant people and try to find out what's going on and post it here. However, I'm pretty certain the road will be opened again early Saturday morning. Conditions are quite benign tonight.

[GoingFeral]

You have my sympathy for the loss in your family, Voyager. And I hope you have a great time in the snow.

[1voyager1]

So much for my try to get to the top.
First of all, early is a subjective term.
Getting packed up, fed, fueled up, and by the bank after they opened for pocket money did get me started out of town about the time I'd liked to have arrived at the top.
But, being as today was primarily a recon day, I wasn't too unhappy, until I reached the MK visitor center.
The road was blocked with a thundering heard of people and cars stacked up around the visitor center and the upper road start.
It was like a county fair with all the people and cars.

Just looked at the MKWC.
They still have the road marked as being closed due to snow, ice and black ice on the roads.
With the way temps and radiation have been and the time frame, I don't buy it.
Personally, I think all they're doing is trying to keep the large numbers of people off the top.
Which might not be a bad idea.
That many people running around all over the top could be disruptive.

I'll sleep better tonight and get an earlier start tomorrow.

[leilanidude]

If the road is closed - there sure a lot of cars up there right noe!
http://www.eao.hawaii.edu/weather/images/ukirt.jpg

[1voyager1]

As of 5:15pm the MKWC now says the road is open, about 45 minutes after your post ld.
I will get an EARLY start tomorrow trying to be up their near daybreak.

Another day should help the snow to become even more stable.

[TomK]

The MK rangers opened the road late afternoon, but once again failed to inform the observatories and changed the road status page a long time after they opened it. I can tell you certain observatory staff are pissed off with the rangers right now, especially as one observatory crew were asked to rescue a distressed visitor because the rangers were unable to negotiate a small area of ice on the road.

The rangers are employed by OMKM (http://www.malamamaunakea.org/).

Please send complaints to them. I can't change anything myself but I'll certainly be making my opinions very clear to OMKM.

[1voyager1]

Mornin' Tom,
I have no complaints to make.
I enjoyed the drive.
I used to drive a lot for recreation and travel.
Putting 60k miles or more on my vehicle in a year was not unusual for me.
Since moving here, I rarely leave the yard anymore.

The 3 ring circus at the visitor center did take me by surprise, though.
I simply turned around and headed back down, not wanting to deal with it.

Checked MKWC again this morning.
They updated the open road notice again at 4am.
I'm getting ready to head back up again today.

I'm earlier, but still not as early as I'd like to have gotten started.
This retirement thing has really made early mornings a bit difficult to deal with.
Plus, I'm so glad that I do not have to deal with the morning commute from Puna to Hilo on a regular basis.