Besides traveling and photography, my passion is to climb volcanoes. I was pretty excited with my volcano lineup so far, amongst which Cotopaxi in Ecuador was ranking as number 1, being also the tallest I’ve ever climbed. But this year I topped it all off when I went on Mauna Kea, the tallest mountain in the world! Granted, this is when you size the mountain from the sea level up but let me tell you a little bit about it.
Mauna Kea in Hawaiian means the White Mountain and is a dormant (thank God!) volcano. Most of it is under water and, when measured from the ocean floor up, Mauna Kea becomes the highest mountain in the world being over 10,000 m (33,000 ft) tall. You read it right: it is higher than mount Everest! It seems it is about a million years old and has passed the most active volcanic stage a looooong – long time ago. What makes this climb more interesting than others is the fact that you start the journey right from the sea level, hmm I mean the beach – and you climb up to 4,207 m (13,803 ft). That’s right, you start your journey wearing beach sandals and short sleeves and you end up at 0 Celsius (32 Fahrenheit) in just a few hours.
The highest point of the Hawaiian Big Island, Mauna Kea’s summit is one of the best sites in the world for astronomical observation with telescopes operated by astronomers from eleven countries. The atmosphere above the mountain is extremely dry and cloud-free, so that the proportion of clear nights is among the highest in the world. The exceptional stability of the atmosphere above Mauna Kea permits more detailed studies than are possible elsewhere. Add to that the peak’s distance from city lights and a strong island-wide lighting regulation and you get an extremely dark sky, allowing observation of the faintest galaxies that lie at the very edge of the observable Universe. I am not a stars connoisseur, but even I was happy to get a shot of a moon rainbow that it is very rare to see or so it seems.
My journey started with a pretty cloudy sky, we went through some heavy fog, got rained on, basked in the sunshine, held our heads up above the clouds and witnessed one of the most beautiful sunsets I ever saw. I will let you check out the pictures below but not before I gave you a few travel tips:
- It is best you take this trip with a tour guide although you can drive there by yourself. I recommend Mauna Kea Summit Adventures as they offer the opportunity of stargazing through telescopes as well as a whole lotta interesting information
- Mauna Kea is one of the only places in the world where you can drive from the sea level to 4000 meters/14,000 feet in about 2 hours, so altitude sickness is a high possibility. At that altitude there is 40% less oxygen than at sea level, so you should acclimatize to the altitude before proceeding further up the mountain. If you experience any altitude sickness symptoms it is best to descend as soon as possible
- Hydrate well, wear proper clothing (terrain boots, long sleeves, long pants) and stop at the Visitors Center to get acclimatized and get visiting and weather condition information
- Do not go scuba diving the day before climbing on top of Mauna Kea (the same rule as for flying applies :-))
- Last but not least: take your camera and your tripod and get ready to soak in the beautiful scenery
On the road to Mauna Kea
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Walk around at the Visitors Center, eat, hydrate plenty and get dressed appropriately. I spent around 30 minutes there and had fun with the guy in the picture below as he was giving driving directions to the clouds 🙂
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The mountain itself looks as if you are stepping on Mars.
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The sun sets pretty quickly and the blue hour is particularly beautiful.png)
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Look carefully and you can see the moon bow, like a shy rainbow around the moon ring.png)
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Thank you for reading. Until next time, travel a lot and safely !
