Brian York's Life

I can see your house from up here

Written on June 19, 2008

So here I am in Hawaii. Wearing shoes, socks, pants, a shirt, a sweater, and a coat. And I’m still cold. Isn’t it lovely visiting a tropical island?

So I arrived in Hawaii this past Wednesday, after spending quite a few hours in airports or on planes. The architecture here makes sense for the climate, but still strikes me as weird. Most buildings at sea level (like my hotel, and the airport) aren’t actually closed off — they have roofs, but not walls. I realize that it never gets incredibly cold here, but I still kept getting startled at walking around inside and suddenly being outside.

The hotel I stayed at was pretty nice, and included a breakfast buffet (which is always nice when travelling, because when I arrived I was too tired to eat much, and so I was incredibly hungry when I woke up. There seems to be a lot of asian influence here — for example, there was miso soup in the breakfast buffet, which I’m not very used to.

So, after spending one day at sea level (and being a bit overheated), I’m now up at Hale Pohaku, altitude 9,100 feet. It was raining like crazy most of my time at sea level, but we cleared the clouds just as we arrived at the dormitory, and there were a lot of stars out. It’s always nice to see the stars really close, and I’m told that the view from Hale Pohaku is the best there is. Up at the actual summit (13,974 feet), apparently, there isn’t enough oxygen for your eyes to work very well, so you can’t see the stars nearly as well there (or so I’m told, and I’ll find out soon enough).

The dorms here are nice. Not much light (or heat) (well, we’re up a mountain, it’s probably hard to get much power), but there’s a double bed, an electric blanket (see the “no heat” part), and a set of blinds that block the light out very well (which will be useful when I’m fully over to an awake-at-night schedule, which should hopefully be pretty soon.

This morning it was super clear up here, but recently it’s turned into a fog (well, inside-of-a-cloud, anyway). I’m going up to the summit for the first time tonight, and I’m a bit nervous. At my orientation yesterday, I was given a couple of “be careful” cards showing symptoms and what to do about them (one yellow, one red). I’m going to put a transcript below, because apparently altitude sickness can hit anyone.

Yellow Card (Minor Emergency, High Altitude Sickness)
- Minor Symptoms
  - Mild Shortness of Breath
  - Dizziness
  - Lightheadedness
  - Headaches
  - Visual Change
  - Palpitations
  - Chest Tightness
  - Nausea
- Steps to be Taken
  - Inform Duty Officer
  - Rest / Slow Down / Drink Fluids
  - Pressure Breathe
  - Oxygen Application (fixed flow type)
  - No Improvement: Descend to Lower Altitude
  - Symptoms Persist: Proceed to Hilo Medical Center Emergency Room
Red Card (Major Emergency, High Altitude Sickness)
- Major Symptoms
  - Sudden Severe Unrelenting Headaches
  - Shortness of Breath
  - Chest Pain
  - Abdominal Pain
- Major Signs
  - Slurred Speech
  - Visual Disturbance
  - Loss of Coordination
  - Paralysis
  - Collapse
  - Seizures
  - Slow or Rapid Heart Beat
  - Labored Breathing
  - Unrelenting Nausea or Vomiting
- Steps to be Taken
  - Inform Duty Officer
  - Drink Fluids
  - Take Aspirin, Tylenol
  - Lie Down Until Feeling Better
  - Pressure Breathe
  - Oxygen Application (fixed flow type)
  - Leave the Summit Immediately
  - Follow the MKSS Emergency Procedure Plan

So yes, it’s scary reading, but it is nice to know that they have medically-trained people around just in case, and that they’re willing to shut down the telescope and drive you down if they have to. So I’m really excited about seeing what goes on, but a bit nervous about how I’ll be at high altitude. At least they feed us fairly well here (at least by cafeteria standards, anyway).

I’ll try to make another entry from the summit (I don’t know if I’ll have network access there) (strange how I post mostly when I’m travelling to mountains).

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Entry last updated October 28, 2005