Have you ever gotten altitude sickness going up to the Mauna Kea summit? (school, moving)

[JFrombaugh]

I hear these stories all the time of people getting violently sick and needing medical evacuation, or just getting a really bad headache, when visiting the observatories at the summit of Mauna Kea (13,800 ft elevation). Actually, more so than any other tourist attraction I can think of right off the bat - except for maybe the "Mission: SPACE" motion simulator at WDW in Orlando.

Just wondering what the overall track record is for people here on the Big Island board. I've visited Kauai before, and I enjoyed it enough that I definitely want to come back some day to see the BI, and Mauna Kea is on my list of places to see because I've recently been getting into astronomy and space and the like.

I've climbed Mt. Tallac in the Lake Tahoe area (9,735 ft) with no ill effects, as well as learned to ski at Winter Park in Colorado (9,000 ft) - only thing I noticed there was getting out of breath faster than usual and never really advancing beyond the kiddie slopes. I did start to feel lightheaded on the drive there over Berthound Pass (11,300 ft), but in retrospect I think that could've just as easily been dehydration (I can't remember exactly, but I'd wager I probably wasn't drinking as much as I should have due to anticipation of the trip).

[norman_w]

I didn't have a problem. Do you have altitude sickness anyway?

[whtviper1]

Never for me

[terracore]

The recommendation is to stop at the ranger station at 9,000 feet for 30-45 minutes before proceeding to avoid to altitude sickness. And under no circumstance should one go diving and drive up to Mauna Kea in the same day.

If you have worries: "Ibuprofen, an anti-inflammatory medication often used as a painkiller, was found to significantly reduce the incidence of altitude sickness in a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of 86 men and women, according to the study, published online March 20 in Annals of Emergency Medicine."

https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-ne...hers-find.html

[hotzcatz]

I don't like going to the top of the mountain. Light headedness, a bit hard to breathe and once up there walking around is best done slowly, but that's been about it and waiting a bit at the ranger station keeps it from being very noticeable. It's not any worse than Pike's Peak.

Who has had all these stories of folks getting sick and needing to be medically evacuated?

[JFrombaugh]

Originally Posted by hotzcatz

Who has had all these stories of folks getting sick and needing to be medically evacuated?

Visiting the Summit of Mauna Kea – A Darker View

[Arktikos]

Only been once, many years ago while in my thirties. No issues whatsoever, though we didn't linger there for too long.

[steiconi]

I got altitude sickness without nausea, dizziness, or headache. I just wanted to sleep. I found a nice leather couch and napped while the rest of my friends explored.
I was awaken by a major earthquake; I looked out the window, and the ground was moving horizontally!
turned out they were rotating the telescope, and the whole building went with it.

[steiconi]

Fun facts: other symptoms of altitude sickness include sleepiness and poor judgement. So drive safe!

[Sonnenwende]

I haven't been to the summits of Mauna Kea or Mauna Loa, but I have been to the visitor's center on Mauna Kea (around 9,000ft) and to the end of the road on Mauna Loa (about 11,000ft).

No one got altitude sick, but the minute you tried to put any physical effort forward beyond a slow walk, both my husband and I were winded in short order and we are in great physical condition. It was just amazing how weird it was, felt like your lungs were..strange hollow, dry feeling. You could definitely push past and manage, but it was odd.

The day we went up Mauna Kea last time, it was gusting over 70MPH and they closed the summit road because of it. We walked, huffing and puffing, up the ridge to watch the sunset with some other folks. Most people were reasonably dressed for the occasion, but I saw at least one family in shorts, sandals, and very light windbreaker jackets. It was about 40F with high winds on an unprotected ridge. The parents forced their obviously miserable young school aged children to sit up there in those awful conditions while they watched the sunset (a good 20-25 minutes), freezing themselves. Someone felt bad for one of the kids and gave their blanket. I honestly couldn't believe it. Did they have altitude sickness to do something so clueless? Sunset from the ridge is nice, but just a sunset with the benefit the UV rays can burn your eyes some more than normal. It can be skipped for sure when the weather is bad, IMO.