Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 25, Number 6, 1 May 2008 — Other worlds atop 'the mountain' [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Other worlds atop 'the mountain'

A visit to Gemini and Mauna Kea By Blaine Fergerstrom Ka Wai ūla staff Koa Rice leads the party of travelers to an ahu at the juncture where Saddle Road intersects with the road leading to the Mauna Kea summit. Ho'okupu carefully placed, she chants "E Hō Mai" and offers pule asking pennission to visit the sacred suimnit. The only answer is steady makani and the sound of nearby heavy equipment. Saddle Road is undergoing a long-planned upgrade, whieh will straighten and widen the oneetreacherous, narrow, winding road. Finished sections are wide enough to acconnnodate four lanes, turning lanes, emergency shoulders and freeway signs advising of 55 mph speed limits. For those familiar with the old Saddle Road, the new look is disorienting. What used to be a very quiet, isolated plaee now has high-speed traffic dodging construction equipment and orange cones in the unfinished sections. Rice finishes the ceremony by using a ti leaf to sprinkle oeean water dipped from a koa bowl over the visitors, then pours the remainder gently over the ahu. Protocol satisfied, the party continues toward the summit. Kahalelaukoa "Koa" Ka'ahanui Rice, a Gemini Observatory outreach assistant, has been working atop Mauna Kea off and on for the past 10 years. Rice is well-known

among all the telescope's staff. They greet her with hugs and jokes at every turn. She left two years ago to pursue love and life in Fos Angeles, but returned after 18 months, missing her Hilo home and her first love, "the mountain." She goes to the suimnit "ahnost every day." Resembling a Swiss chalet, the Onizuka Center for International Astronomy at the 9,000-foot elevation is home to the people who work at the summit. Featuring offices, a dining facility and cabins, scientists and technicians must stop here and spend approximately an hour to acclimate to the high altitude before ascending to the top. They also sleep in one of the cabins at the center when working for extended times at the top. lon Archambeau, a part-time tour guide and Gemini Virtual Tour technician, points out that falling asleep at 14,000 feet would be disastrous. "At this altitude, there is very little oxygen to begin with, and your body takes in even less when you're asleep." If you fell asleep at the sununit, laek of oxygen could make you go into a eoma. "You could die in your sleep," he says. After a stop at the center for luneh and aeelimahon, Archambeau gives a rundown on altitude sickness and safety. Telescope visitors must sign a release acknowledging the risks before continuing. A eheek of weather at the summit reveals 55 mph winds and 32°F temperatures with a highwind warning in effect. Conditions are considered fierce, even for seasoned veterans. The way up is a steep, winding

gravel road up through the clouds. In many places, there is no guaidrail. Visibihty is sometimes only 25 feet and Archambeau slows the four-wheel drive vehicle to a crawl. In Maieh 2007, two people died and another was injuied when the brakes failed and their car plunged over the side. Eventually, the clouds are surpassed and a lunar tableau is revealed. The landscape is so otherworldly, NASA onee used the area as a surrogate moon for astronauts training to go to the real one. Numerous cinder cones dot cooled lava flows from ancient eruptions. Snow several feet deep covers the

highest points and collects in poekets everywhere, even in April. The guide points out that ancient Hawaiians valued the specialized basalt created when intensely heated mohen rock was exposed to the extreme cold of prehistoric glaciers, whieh covered the area. Steel is treated similarly to harden it for use in tools like knives and chisels. The rock created in this fashion heeame extremely dense and hard, perfect for making stone tools. Hawaiian artisans braved the extreme conditions wearing only kapa and ki to spend extended periods working in ko'i quarries near the sununit. Many Mauna Kea adze quarry sites have been identified and together are preserved as a nahonal historic landmark. At the 14,000-foot summit, there are no telescopes; only a U.S. Geological Survey marker, a stone ahu and human footprints in the cinders mar the spot. The telescopes sit on a ridgeline helow the sununit in a loop. The Gemini Telescope is operated by a consortium of seven countries: United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Argentina, Brazil and Chile. Gemini actually refers to two telescopes: Gemini North sits on Mauna Kea, surveying the northern hemisphere, while its twin, Gemini South, sits atop a remote mountain in Chile, scanning southern skies. The twin telescopes feature 8-meter (26.6foot) mirrors and are linked by network. Scientists at both locations collaborate regularly. Gemini has discovered the heaviest stellar hlaek hole and the most distant object in the solar system. The images and data gathered by Gemini have been deemed as good as the Hubble Space Telescope. Onee inside the Gemini dome, outside wind noise is replaced by the hum of machinery. Only a few people are actually working here and the facility seems deserted. Caution tape marks areas where the continuous work of maintaining and upgrading the telescope is under way. Hoses and electrical cords criscross the floor. Plastic sheeting covers sensitive equipment. Heavy steel beams anchored to thick concrete pads support the massive structure and its heart, the telescope mirror.

Hard hats are required. Through this jumble Archambeau guides his visitors, watching every step to ensure safety. Workers at the suimnit move slowly to conserve energy and oxygen. One is quickly overcome by only the slightest exertion. Workers carry snacks and learn "pressure breathing" techniques to help eombat altitude sickness, whieh ean cause dizziness, impaired judgment, headache, and clmnsiness. The feeling is compared to having "a eouple of martinis." In this industrial setting, it ean be dangerous. Archambeau spot-checks oxy gen level and heart rate with a elip-on fingertip monitor. Measurements of 89% for oxygen (compared to 100% at sea-level) and a 92 beats-per-minute heart rate are deemed "pretty good" for a smmnit malihini. A sea-level heart rate would be between 60-80 bpm. As the group starts back down, a startling sight greets them: A tourist has driven his rent-a-car to the smnmit and is standing in 55 mph wind, 32° temperatmes, in aloha shirt, shorts and slippers, trying to take pietures. He is, apparently unprepared for a smmnit visit. There are no barriers on the road up and anyone may drive to the smmnit, unescorted, but unprepared visitors ean endanger themselves and others. They ean also damage sensitive sites. Archambeau stops at the Mauna Kea Visitor Center, just helow Onizuka. The visitor center is operated by the Nahonal Park Service to advise visitors as to conditions and preparations for visiting the smmnit. On this late afternoon, three small buses full of Iapanese tourists are parked at the center, organized tom groups that visit the smmnit several times a day, says Rice. "They eome up to watch the sunset," she says. The tom ends back in Hilo, one street above the 'hniloa Astronomy Center where a small tech park houses remote viewing centers and offices for nearly all the observatories atop Mauna Kea. Gemini scientists do most of their research work from this low-elevation loeation, leaving chiefly a maintenance presence inside the structmes at the 14,000-foot smmnit, helping to minimize the impact of their operations on "the mountain." □

Mauna Kea Meetings Mauna Kea Comprehensive Management Plan meetings: • Waimea: May 6, 5-7 p.m,, Waimea Community Center, • Kona: May 7,6-8 p.m,, Kealakehe Elem, . Hilo: May 13,5-7 p.m,, Hilo High School, Call 539-3580.

MO'OMEHEU - CULĪURE

A snow-covered Mauna Kea cinder eone sits near the observatories while Mauna Loa is visible in the distance. - Photos: Blaine Fergerstrom

Gemini North during the day.