"Of course when living in Hawai'i, who owns winter clothing?! You can't go play in the snow in flip-flops, so you make do with what you have. I had an old pair of rubber boots, a few layers of socks, a couple layers of pants, t-shirts and layered sweat shirts, and I was ready to go. Some friends had a 4-wheel drive land rover, so four of us packed up some beer and snacks and of course, boogie boards. Boogie boards aren't just for surfing the ocean waves, as you will find out soon.
The road to the top is kept clear except in heavy storms which can blow in at a moments notice. We went up during the week - not much traffic except the obversatory workers and a few other fools like us. There must have been 3-4 feet of snow at the top on the day we were there.
Mauna Kea at its summit is over 14,000ft. which makes breathing difficult during any exercise. Of course, you can stand around doing nothing but that's no fun. The best place to 'snow surf' Mauna Kea summit is this bowl just below the summit. There is a run of 300 yards or so and you end at the bottom near the road. You gotta watch out for boulders sticking out of the snow though. On our fist run we tried walking back up to the top and soon found ourselves light headed and in danger of altitude sickness. The boggie boards worked great and we didn't want to give it up after the long drive to the top.
We decided to take turns driving, picking up the guys at the bottom and shuttling them back to the top. The sun was blazing the whole time, so we kept pretty warm. However for guys used to living in the tropic warmth after a couple hours and the cold crept into our bones and it was time to, as they say in Hawai'i, to hele on.
One thing nice about snow surfing in Hawai'i: When you are done, an hour later you can be ocean surfing on a white sand beach, which we did."
During the winter months in Hawaii, one won't only find teenagers sliding down snowy stretches of Mauna Kea summit on boogie boards or inner tubes, but skiers give it a try too. You got to be well conditioned, experienced and know the terrain though when skiing downhill on Mauna Kea. However, watching these daredevils is an experience Big Island visitors will remember for years to come when telling friends about their Big Island vacation. What's your favorite story about your visit to Mauna Kea summit and obersatories? Mahalo, Pua Hawaii Vacations
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5 comments:
Great post. I'm heading to the big island for the brew fest in a couple of weeks and will hopefully be making it to the summit for a snowball fight. It's an amazing view from up there. Even more amazing is 2 hours earlier I would have been having coffee by the beach.
Yes, Mauna Kea Mountain or Volcano offers amazing views of Mauna Loa and the entire Big Island on a clear day. Being on top of the mountain is like being transported into a different world.
For those who are not good with heights, seeing snow-covered Mauna Kea mountain when lying on the warm white sand of Mauna Kea Beach is like from a dream too. Enjoy!
Driving along in 80 degree weather seeing beautiful Mauna Kea with snow is an amazing sight...the stars anywhere on the island are magnificent...seeing the Milky Way ...exquisite..
Hale O Malia Diana
Aloha Diana and mahalo for your comment.
Snow-covered Mauna Kea summit photo has been and still is our Big Island signature photo.
Who of our Hawaii blog visitors has not seen it, please, come visit our site Kohala Coast Vacation Guide. It shows a Mauna Kea photo taken off the coast at Mauna Kea Beach Hotel by our friend Peter French, well-known Big Island photographer.
I took many photos of Mauna Kea in winter but none can compete with Peter's photo. I keep trying!
Wow! I love the picture. I can't wait to be in Hawaii. We recently bought timeshare from TRA www.tralasvegas.com (a very good deal, if you ask me) and I've been researching about Hawaii to maximize our stay there.
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