by Ray Hill, Chair of Row New York’s Board of Directors
Over the next 2 weeks follow Ray Hill as he takes on what is billed as the toughest bicycle climb on earth – a volcano called Mauna Kea – to raise money for our programs. Ray plans to match the first $20,000 raised on his CrowdRise account! (link to donate here: https://www.crowdrise.com/ray-vs-the-volcano)
When you are at 14,000 feet, you have to deal with a lot of vagaries in life. And even though Hawaii is on the equator, today that means snow.
The headline in the Hawaiian paper reads:
Dangerous icy, snowy conditions lead to Blizzard Warning for Big Island summits
Forecasters said snowfall of more than 6 to 10 inches is possible with locally higher amounts.
Southwest winds could reach 45 to 55 mph, with gusts to 65 mph.
Web cams show what appears to be white out conditions in some spots:
The Hawaii weather service says these kind of conditions only happen every one to 2 years. Lucky me – the blizzard hits Hawaii a few days before I get there!
This afternoon, when I checked, it was 10 degrees and winds 55-65 mph. Now it seems a little calmer, with winds of 21 mph. The road from the Visitor’s Center (at 9,000 feet) to the summit is closed.
We are still going – we will hope that by Monday the snow will melt and the road will be passable again. I am always the optimist! Worst case we won’t try the summit on Monday, but delay a few days.
Stay tuned!
From the Row New York team, to Ray, best of luck!
