11-28-2017, 06:48 PM
I'll make this as quick as I can, a lot of things going on right now.
There's not enough snow to making skiing feasible right now. Don't head to the summit thinking you can ski the slopes, it's not possible right now. Give it another week and see if more snow falls.
Thanks, terracore for the Ibrufen link. I've been aware of this study for a while and is one thing I suggest new visitors try if they're concerned about sickness due to altitude, but try to be very careful how I do that. Creating anxiousness can also create the same symptoms as altitude sickness. It's a very careful balance but I'm not qualified to make that diagnosis, so will take them down once things go beyond a simple headache.
As Justin points out, masking altitude sickness is a real concern. We have a policy that if anyone requires oxygen to make them feel better, we take them back to 9,000 ft. and if that doesn't help, we take them to the hospital, no questions asked. Taking oxygen makes you feel better but won't cure altitude sickness. Not every observatory has this policy but I am very comfortable with it.
voyager - road conditions are updated on a daily/hourly basis here:
http://mkwc.ifa.hawaii.edu/current/road-conditions/
It's linked from the home page - http://mkwc.ifa.hawaii.edu
There's not enough snow to making skiing feasible right now. Don't head to the summit thinking you can ski the slopes, it's not possible right now. Give it another week and see if more snow falls.
Thanks, terracore for the Ibrufen link. I've been aware of this study for a while and is one thing I suggest new visitors try if they're concerned about sickness due to altitude, but try to be very careful how I do that. Creating anxiousness can also create the same symptoms as altitude sickness. It's a very careful balance but I'm not qualified to make that diagnosis, so will take them down once things go beyond a simple headache.
As Justin points out, masking altitude sickness is a real concern. We have a policy that if anyone requires oxygen to make them feel better, we take them back to 9,000 ft. and if that doesn't help, we take them to the hospital, no questions asked. Taking oxygen makes you feel better but won't cure altitude sickness. Not every observatory has this policy but I am very comfortable with it.
voyager - road conditions are updated on a daily/hourly basis here:
http://mkwc.ifa.hawaii.edu/current/road-conditions/
It's linked from the home page - http://mkwc.ifa.hawaii.edu