Risks of Brain Injury Visiting High Altitude Destinations....Mauna Kea? (Hilo: eat, deal)

[Rain Monkey]

The only brain injury I have known to suffer at high altitude around Hawai'i is from consuming copious amounts of those little mini bottles that are handed out at around 35,000 +/- feet....8-D

[smarino]

Brain injury, in the scenario you talk about, comes from oxygen deprivation to the brain. Brain damage is essentially irreversible, as you do not form new brain cells after infancy. You can compensate by retraining other parts of the brain, which may or may not work well, but you want to avoid brain damage at all costs. ONLY experienced climbers w/ proper training should attempt to climb in low oxygen environments, and only w/ bottled oxygen, proper emergency back up, proper emergency communication, etc. What you don't know may possibly kill you, and there are no second chances w/ brain damage.

[Galactastica]

They certainly do have warning signs for altitude sickness and going further up the mountain if you're under 16 posted at the Visitor Information Station. Anyone can get altitude sickness, it doesn't matter how experienced you are and there is a brain swelling injury that can happen to children (can't say I know the specifics of that one.)

When I worked at the VIS it was always a joke that people come up and say "Oh, I'll be fine, I've been up Pikes Peak." we would always have to roll our eyes. At Mauna Kea you are going from sea level (0 Elevation!) up a fourtneeer. In Colorado, you are already starting at elevation and going up a fourteener; NOT the same thing. It's always wise to be safe, but generally people are fine as long as their cautious and follow the rules, which are there for a reason. If you are unsure, talk to them at the VIS or pick out a ranger to ask!

[JungleWahine]

I thought that edema stuff was only a big risk if you scuba and climb in the same day as someone mentioned. I know it was recommended to pull off and stay at the Visitor Center for a while. We stayed for an hour before continuing on as I had no desire to get the pukes! I WOULD caution people to pull over when you smell something funny on the way down. It's your brakes We had a true 4x4 as recommended, but the brakes took the trip down quite hard. It took us twice as long to get down as it did to get up due to letting brakes cool. Not sure if we were supposed to stop at the Visitor's info again on the way down, but we did anyway to let the brakes cool off yet again. Honestly though, waiting on the brakes was not a big deal when you have those breathtaking views.
Does anyone know if they ever open up the telescopes to the public? I know they are privately owned, but all the doors had days and hours on them?

[otterprods]

Originally Posted by JungleWahine

I know they are privately owned, but all the doors had days and hours on them?

The observatories are generally not open to the public. Stargazing is best done at the VIS, where they have daily visitor hours and telescopes you can look through. They do occasionally (rarely) have public events at the observatories. If you got to this page, you can sign up for a mailing list to notify you of future events (most are NOT at that observatory though).

Last time we were in Volcanoes NP, we got to go into the observatory building, including the observation tower on the rim of Kīlauea Caldera. But that was just a case of being in the right place at the right time, because it just happened to be their 100th anniversary that day.

[mdand3boys]

Originally Posted by JungleWahine

... I WOULD caution people to pull over when you smell something funny on the way down. It's your brakes We had a true 4x4 as recommended, but the brakes took the trip down quite hard. It took us twice as long to get down as it did to get up due to letting brakes cool. Not sure if we were supposed to stop at the Visitor's info again on the way down, but we did anyway to let the brakes cool off yet again. Honestly though, waiting on the brakes was not a big deal when you have those breathtaking views...

You are supposed to put the transmission in a LOWER GEAR so as to avoid toasting the brakes and possibly losing your ability to stop, thus killing yourself or others. This is one of the advantages to taking a true 4x4 (with low range transfer case) up to the peak.

[Mr. In-Between]

I had a private tour of one of the telescopes once. Got to spend about an hour chatting with the operator, peppering him with questions. Interesting dude - former executive officer of a Los Angeles-class attack submarine, and now he drove a telescope on top of a 14,000-foot mountain. One of those people who is absolutely driven to get every. Single. Thing. Exactly right, every single time. He said it wasn't as different as you might expect - he spent his whole day operating extremely precise equipment that cost hundreds of millions of dollars, in a really tiny space, and seldom saw daylight. Biggest difference was that now he got to crank the music as loud as he wanted it.

It was really interesting, but you don't get to see very much. At least I didn't, at that particular scope. It was a radio telescope, and all the guy did was input various commands for the computer to target specific areas of the sky and collect data. The inside of those things is a hell of a lot smaller than they appear from the outside - they're just packed with gear and catwalks and such. I really felt cramped and almost claustrophobic. Don't think I'd like working in one of them.

[Mark.ca]

I felt stupid to follow the internet advice and use a 4x4 to get to the top....does that qualify as brain injury? Off topic, i know, but i'm curious.....why so many say you need a 4x4 to get up there. Where the roads bad in the past and just recently fixed? I visited the place 2 months ago and reserved a 4x4 just for that. No one at the rental car company knows the difference so we ended up getting an all wheel drive....i was too tired to argue so i just took it (that almost cost us at Waipio). In our way up we stopped at the info center and the young lady there was explaining to a couple why they needed a 4x4. Hearing all the warnings i thought to myself this road must be very steep, scary and dangerous. I decided to try it and if was getting too bad i would just turn around. Guess what? The road was so good that it bored me to hell. The gravel part is so nicely level that a small economy car can handle it if dry....and i did see a few small cars up there too.
As others mentioned, you have to go way higher in order to be in any real danger from oxygen depravation. The only thing that happened to me up there was getting tired fast just for walking fast which was normal due to lower oxygen levels.

[Mark.ca]

Originally Posted by mdand3boys

You are supposed to put the transmission in a LOWER GEAR so as to avoid toasting the brakes and possibly losing your ability to stop, thus killing yourself or others. This is one of the advantages to taking a true 4x4 (with low range transfer case) up to the peak.

I admit i'm not a car guy but i thought most automatic transmission cars have a low gear option. The all wheel drive i used to go there had a lower gear which worked just fine. I had to use the brakes only about 5 times in my way down so the engine break was working fine using 1 and 2 gear.

[OpenD]

Originally Posted by Mark.ca

why so many say you need a 4x4 to get up there. Where the roads bad in the past and just recently fixed?

It's not needed, so much as it is highly recommended.

Why? The Voice of Experience. Many people have had very bad experiences up there, even since the road was improved.