Mauna Kea (HI) « Thread Started on Nov 11, 2009, 9:00pm »
Mike Bailey did the round-trip (from the Visitor Center) in about 4h, September 16, 2007. NEW: Jorge Maravilla beat Bailey's time by a large amount, running the round-trip in 2h51m26s on June 5, 2012.
Mauna Kea (13,796 feet) is the highest point in Hawaii, and the highest point in the Pacific. If you count the part of the mountain that is underwater, it is the tallest mountain in the world!
Most hikers start from the Ellison Onizuka Visitor center at 9,000 feet elevation on the south side of the peak, which is accessible by a paved road. Above the Visitor Center, a 4WD road continues to the Mauna Kea Observatory, just below the summit. Hikers use the Mauna Kea Trail, which follows an abandoned dirt road, to ascend 4,800 feet over 6 miles to the top.
Mike Bailey reports having run from the Visitor Center to the summit and back, via the auto road, in 4h "give or take a minute", on Sept. 16, 2007. According to Bailey, the road route is 9 miles each way. He started his run at 11:20 a.m., reached the summit at 1:55 p.m. (2h35m), and ran back down the road, arriving at the Visitor Center at 3:20 p.m. (1h25m). "Mauna Kea does not have record of a faster circuit time, although elite athletes should be able to go considerably faster. They just need to vacation in Hawaii more," he said. His blog post on the trip, written 2 years later, is here.
Bailey explained some of the difficulties of ascending Mauna Kea on foot: "Unlike other mountains, like in Colorado, you are already at 6,000 ft when you begin your attempt. Thus, you have already spent time acclimating to the altitude. Most visitors, like myself, in Hawaii begin their day at sea level. My body experienced 0 ft to 13,796 ft in under 6 hours. This can cause numerous health problems, and thus the many stern warnings to visitors about hiking even a small part of the trail. Aside from the altitude issues, it is a very steep trail with a lot of climate change. The temperature during my run varied from 70 degrees at the start to 36 at the summit, with wind, fog, and rain." Bailey chose to use the auto road route, instead of the considerably shorter hiking trail, because "I guess I wanted to try the longer route. Ultrarunner mentality. If there's a shorter way, don't take it." "My wish is for runners to see my time, and set out to break it," Bailey added. "Plus I can't think of too many more beautiful places to run."
As reported below, on June 5, 2012, Jorge Maravilla ran from the Visitor Center to the top in 1h44m, hung around on the summit of a while, then ran back down in 52m. According to Maravilla's data posted to strava.com, the total round-trip time was 2h51m26s. We note here that round-trip times definitely include any time spent on the summit.
Billy Barnett appears to have run about the same time (4 hours) as Bailey for a longer (24 mile) route starting at around 6,500 feet, on Oct. 21, 2011. But, we don't have confirmation of the time or route, so can't consider this an FKT. Barnett was inspired to pen these lines after the run:
"Mauna Kea’s Starry Songs" by Billy Barnett Hard times in the city God damn Hard times in the country Left the dishes in the sink and I’m going up a mountain Heard the wild thieves are on the hunt Trying to steal my heart So I’m a' high flyin' up Balancing on a thought and Singing starry songs Sung through my hearts voice while i'm Stumbling and weary from the riddles Yet harmoniously In the midst of joy Lookin’ for the right kind of love To come and take me back down but For now I’m just a’ high flyin’ up Don’t know when I’m coming back down
« Last Edit: Jun 17, 2012, 3:34pm by Peter Bakwin »
Re: Mauna Kea (HI) « Reply #1 on Jun 5, 2012, 10:22pm »
There's a new official record for running up the Mauna Kea Volcano from the ranger station to the top and back down. Jorge Maravilla, the current RRCA 100 Mile Ultra National Champion ran a 1:44 uphill and a :52 downhill for a total time of 2:36 (not including a 10 minute break at the top to enjoy the view.:). As near as we can tell, he broke the current "fastest known time" by a massive 89 minutes.
He'll be posting his Garmin data on Strava shortly, but the vital stats are that his run measured 8.6 miles each way for a total of 17.2 miles, beginning at the ranger station, running to the absolute top of the mountain at the highest observatory. Those of us who watched him accomplish this astonishing feat, could barely breathe at the ranger station near 9,000 feet. Jorge, on the other hand, ran the entire mountain, climbing about 5,000 feet to near 14,000 feet while slowing only for a restroom break and a little fuel at the 5.5 mile mark.
The run began at approximately 8:00 a.m. Temperatures were brisk at the ranger station and near freezing at the summit. Winds were approximately 20 mph.
Oddly enough, Jorge's run coincided with Venus' transit across the sun and the observatory was packed with newly minted Jorge Maravilla fans (astronomers) who cheered him throughout the run and asked for pictures with him at the finish.
One other interesting fact: The Strava record for climbing an 8.3 mile stretch from the ranger station to the top of Mauna Kea on a bicycle appears to have been 1:49, five minutes slower than Jorge ran the route.
Re: Mauna Kea (HI) « Reply #3 on Jun 13, 2012, 12:14am »
Sorry, I thought I included that he spent 10 minutes at the top. So his total time round trip is 2:36 plus 10 minutes -- 2:46. About 1:15 faster than the previous FKT.
Re: Mauna Kea (HI) « Reply #5 on Oct 6, 2012, 2:02am »
FYI, the dirt path to the top is 8 miles long. I don't know how someone could run the whole thing. Some parts are incredibly steep and the dirt can be hard to get traction. I tried it last night, but then again, I started running from Hilo Bay, so that was probably part of the problem lol. It took me 5hrs to run from Croney's at Hilo Bay to the Access Road. I ran 2 miles of the access road until I hit the switchbacks. My friend drove me the rest of the way to the visitor center. From there, I ran to the 5 mile mark of the dirt road at the 12,000 ft elevation sign. 35 miles today in 7hrs 5 minutes. Longest run before this was a flat marathon.
Everyone is talking about the record to run visitor center to summit and back, but what about sea level to summit? Has anyone done that?
Re: Mauna Kea (HI) « Reply #6 on Oct 16, 2012, 3:47pm »
Hello all,
we ran Mauna Kea yesterday (Monday, 15.10.2012) starting at the Visitor Information Station. Like the other attempts stated in this forum we took the route starting at the visitor center running up and down Mauna Kea using the car dirt road.
We herby report a new record by Fabian Eberhard in a time of 2:49:03.
As soon as we are back home in Germany we will provide the GPS data to prove the new record.
We attempted the new FKT in a team of two but only Fabian broke the record, pulling away at about mile 6.5 in the uphill. It took him about 1:55 hrs for the climb and 54 mins for the downhill. Our run was completely self-supported.
The conditions were mostly sunny with some clouds and a little wind. The temperature at the visitor center when we left was about 65°.
The attached picture shows the record as displayed on the Garmin. As said above, we will provide full details once we return to Germany in about 10 days.
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