From Sea to Sky, Maui

[stoysluttie1]

From admin: I am co-opting this post to summarize what we know about this route & FKT. Note that the original poster never came back to report a completion or route.
Men's ascent FKT: Brian Tolbert, Apr. 29, 2016, 4h55m41s
Previous men's ascent FKT: Brian Donnelly, Feb. 2012, 5h0m6s
Men's round trip FKT: Steve Crichton, Mar. 17, 2017, 10h50m48s
Previous Men's round trip FKT: John Beard, Apr. 9, 2016, 13h17m08s
Women's FKT: Marcy Beard, Apr. 9, 2016, 7h17m11s ascent (13h26m32s round trip)

This route ascends Haleakala from the beach near Kaupo (Maui) via the Kaupo and Sliding Sands trails. It's about 20 miles each way, and ascents 10,023 feet. The men's FKT appears to be held by Brian Donnelly, 5h0m6s in February 2012, as reported below. He posted a 5 minute video and a detailed trip report. Also of note is Andrew Fast's very fast 3h37m ascent on December 18, 2012, as reported on his blog. However, Fast started at the Kaupo general store, which is about a mile shorter with about 300' less climbing than the classic beach start. On April 9, 2016, Marcy Beard set the women's FKT for the ascent (7h17m11s) and round trip (13h26m32s), and John Beard set the men's round trip FKT (13h17m8s), as reported below.


Here's stoysluttie1's original post:

This week we are attempting the true sea to sky starting at 0 on the south side of Maui near Kaupo and going right up it to the summit of Haleakala.

Monday is recon day. Looking at a XC route consisting of 10,023 vertical feet over 12 miles.

Maybe Wednesday.

[buzzb]

I did that in 2001 - from the top down - way easier!

A terrific route - check out the Seven Sacred Pools at the bottom (continue past the end of the trail)

[stoysluttie1]

thanks for the info! saw the pools the other day. We are checking out a different route thats more direct. Go right up it.

[bivouac]

Been "up" three times...once solo. Bike stashed on top...once down to Paia, the other down through Poli Poli and back to Kaupo. The best...and a wanna do yearly. Sid

[brian d]

Did this in March up the Kaupo and Sliding Sands trail. My pace was pretty casual, but I will hit it pretty hard next time. Here's a vid I made:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9CacOloPxc

[Marc L]

Is Brian D's time the current FKT? I believe he did it in 5 hours, but not sure the exact time.

I was looking for a Sea to Summit Route Via Trails and saw Brian D's Video. This looks like the only route to go and wouldn't mind throwing in an FKT attempt while doing it!

Nice work Brian and sweet video!

[mlaveson]

On Thursday 7/4 at 6:00am, I am planning on attempting an unsupported Sea to Sky to Sea FKT. I will be starting at the ocean similar to Brian Donnelly, will ascend up the Kuapo Trail to the Sliding Sands trail and then take the Sliding Sands trail to the Summit. I will then descend back down the same route back to the beach.

Total distance is roughly 40 miles. Total Elevation Gain is 10,023ft. Total Elevation Loss is 10,023.

Anyone is welcome to meet me at the Kuapo General Store at 5:30am, at the summit around 9:30am-10:00am, or back at the beach around 1:00pm-2:00pm. However, I will not be accepting any aid.

From what I can tell, Brian Donnelly has the previous FKT for Sea to Summit at 5:00hrs00mins06sec. Andrew Fast has taken the same route from the general store to the summit in roughly 3hrs35mins, which is roughly 1 mile shorter and 9,723 ft of elevation gain. My goal is to match Andrews ascent time with the additional mile setting the new Sea to Sky FKT and then continue with a descent setting the Sea to Sky to Sea FKT.

Cheers,
Marc

[nicholas m]

marc, did you complete this fkt?

[dhuntington9]

I'm going to be taking a stab at Sea to Sky FKT on 2/25/15. As far as I can tell, the current FKT is just over five hours as reported earlier in this thread. I'll be doing it unsupported starting from the beach by the church.

Looking forward to a fun power hike regardless of the outcome!

[dhuntington9]

Hey everyone - I came in 6 minutes over the FKT with elapsed time of 5:07:05. But I figured I would share my GPS track so others can look at it. I'll also post a few useful links that help with prepping for the route as it is not always a straightforward route (at least for someone most familiar with Northeast trails). This is really a fantastic route, I'd love to see what kind of time a pro could get.

www.strava.com/activities/259882467

alavigne.net/Outdoors/TripReports/2012/Hawaii/?p=kaupo_trail&n=2

[kaseyc]

To anyone with knowledge about the start,

I was in Maui this March (2016) and fell in love with Haleakala. I spent two days up on top and exploring the crater. I wanted to do some recon down around the start but was scared to take our rental car, the map Avis gave us had Kaupo in the "don't drive here".

We are going back in October and I want to take a shot at the FKT as long as it isn't lowered too much by then.

I imagine coming in from the west on HWY 37 would be quicker than driving the twisty "road to Hana".

Thanks for any additional information!

[marcybeard]

Hello,
My husband John Beard and I are planning to attempt a sea-to-summit-to-sea journey on Maui this Saturday, April 9, starting at ~5 am on the beach below Kaupo.  Current plan is individual unsupported ascents, from the ocean, up Kaupo Trail, across to and up Sliding Sands, and up the road to the summit.  I'm aiming for the first recorded (on this site) female ascent.  John is aware of the current 5 hours (and change) FKT for the ascent and might aim for that, if things go well.  We will start together but will not see each other on the ascent (he is much faster than I am).
We will likely converge during the return trip and go down Kaupo Trail together.  I believe this would constitute the first reported (on this site) S2S2S using this route, and in this case it would be self-supported since we would be traveling together in the second half.
We plan to refill water at the summit (water fountain).  I'm also planning on a detour to Paliku cabin during the ascent to refill water from the spigot.
Please let me know if my understanding of "unsupported" and "self-supported" isn't accurate so I can make sure to report this correctly.
And the weather is questionable, so we'll see how it goes.
kaseyc - the CCW route to Kaupo isn't bad.  Paved much of the way, then dirt for a few miles.  A couple spots of dirt road are bumpy, most of the road is rather narrow, just take it slow and expect it to take a while to get there.  We have a low-ish clearance car and it works fine.
-Marcy Beard

[marcybeard]

Update to kaseyc - the road is actually almost all paved from Kula to Kaupo. One short section of dirt through a drainage. The last few miles toward Kaupo are definitely bumpy. That's the memorable part, I had forgotten that it's still pavement. No problem for any car, just take it slow. We haven't been past Kaupo to Hana yet, but I *believe* some part of that is dirt (for sure between Kaupo store and the road down to the church there is a bit of dirt road).

[marcybeard]

Report on our sea-to-summit-to-sea journey yesterday - we made it! Big climb and descent, wide range of terrain and vegetation (and trail condition), beautiful place. Good weather too, happily.

Here's the summary; I'll follow up with a blog post with photos and screenshots from the GPS tracking and my splits.
My husband John Beard and I climbed separately. We started from the ocean near the Kaupo church, climbing Kaupo Trail and connecting to Sliding Sands to reach the summit of Haleakala. John waited for me at the top and we then descended together. We both felt we climbed well. The return trip was long and of course 10,000 feet down is nothing to sneeze at, so we took our time getting back to the bottom. The trail can be difficult to run in places (loose rocks, overgrown vegetation) so I didn't get down quite as fast as anticipated.

John's ascent time was 5:23:51 (not a FKT) and he reports that getting under 5 hours is possible but would take some strong climbing/uphill running.

My ascent time was 7:17:11, setting the first reported female Sea-to-Summit FKT.

John's roundtrip time was 13:17:08, setting the FKT (as far as we know) for S2S2S from the bottom to the top of Maui and back. This time is certainly soft, as he waited for me almost 2 hours at the top and followed me down at my pace.

My roundtrip time was 13:26:32 (even though we finished together, I started before John after he dropped me off near the church and parked the car, such a gentleman). This is a female FKT for this route.

As far as categories, our roundtrip S2S2S times are supported. We were traveling together and sharing food and water.
John's ascent was unsupported - he carried everything (including all water) from bottom to top.
I propose that my ascent was unsupported, as I carried everything up with me except for a water refill at Kapalaoa Cabin. However, John walked with me up the road for the final 10 minutes to the top. If that's considered too much "pacing" and anyone suggests that the effort is therefore supported, that's fine. It's most important that we completed the journey, whatever category it fits into is not a big deal.

I'll post a link to the blog report when I finish it.
-Marcy Beard

[marcybeard]

My first FKT report - it's a bit long:
marcy-twss.blogspot.com/2016/04/sea-to-summit-to-sea-on-maui.html