My Kite Flying at 13,600 foot elevation

[Rusty Heap]

This was a lifetime thrill for me, just to say I DID IT................Yesterday I flew one of my 2.3 meter parafoil kites at 13,600 elevation.

yes 13,600 feet.





The great thing about foil kites is they pack up nice for travel in suitcases..........especially when you go to the Big Island of Hawaii, which is also home to the twin Keck Telescopes on top of Mauna Kea Volcano.


First off, you're at just over 2.5 miles of altitude, and there is only 40% oxygen to breathe compared to sea-level...........and yes you feel it in shortness of breath and dizziness.

You drive up to a visitors center at the ~9000 foot elevation to acclimate for an hour, then in a 30 minute drive you gain the last 4000 feet.............in 30 MINUTES.


Keck Telescopes are 10 meters in width, made up of 36 different hexagon mirror segments that are servo controlled actively steered to focus. Yes about 39 foot wide and weight is ~300 tons.

We got a special behind the scenes tour.


VERY VERY COOL.


Speaking of cold, you leave the Kona coast at 85-87 F degrees, daytime up top at 13,600 was about 57, then at sunset it dropped to 38F. Talk about a wild temperature range swing! Shorts and a tank top at a beach, to then multi layers of jackets/hats/gloves freezing your butt off at 38F in high winds.


Anyways..........that's the background of the adventure............on to the photos or it didn't happen..............


My travel kite this time was a Peter Lynn 2.3 meter of sail twin line foil. The wind up top during the afternoon wasn't blowing much (sporadic 1-2-3 mph?), nor was there many oxygen molecules to fill the sail.......did I mention how short of breath I was, serious. you have to take deep slow breaths, I don't know how the guys on Mt Everest do it.

So while I did deploy the full Kite line set, (but too small an parking lot area, and not enough breeze) but still for the photo shoot, she's FLYING...........a once in a life time experience and none of the physicist or astronomers that work there had EVER seen a kite flown up top at 13,600, so it was a special WOW treat for them too.





THANKS John for letting me fly the kite on the telescope site.




Note the scale of the twin domes. Car parking garages are under the left dome for scale.......over 10 stories high are the domes.
















I shot some Go Pro time lapse of the clouds and sunset, yes at 13,600 we were ABOVE the cloud cover.


This was very very cool.


for more detailed information on the Keck Telescopes which are either the 1st or 2nd largest in the world :


W. M. Keck Observatory - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


https://www.google.com/search?q=keck+telescope+images&rlz=1T4GZBN_enUS445US445&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=QmJcUtPSCsPiiwL1zYHIDA&ved=0CCsQsAQ&biw=1366&bih=615&dpr=1

[genrex]

Wow, that is stunningly beautiful.

The clouds, the sunlight... it's like stepping into a Maxfield Parrish painting...
reality taken to a whole 'nother level. Thanks for sharing!

__

[cstreit]

Now see, I thought you had 13,600 feet of line.

Son, I am disappoint.

[gshase]

Picture #2 Whats that about 8' A.G.L ?

[GH85Carrera]

I wonder if anyone has brought a hang glider up there to fly a foot or so above the ground.

[DanielDudley]

I flew my parafoil off the edge of the the Grand Canyon once, over a massive drop off over a big kettle formation.

Good times with the kid. Must have been in '96. I still have that kite, just no kids to fly it with. We laid down and looked over the edge there. It looked like a Road Runner cartoon, all straight down.

Keep having fun.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by cstreit

Now see, I thought you had 13,600 feet of line.

Son, I am disappoint.

+1

Still, I'd love to visit and peak through their telescopes.

[herr_oberst]

I don't think this is what they mean when they talk about the mile high club.....

[livi]

Excellent!

[Steve Carlton]

Dave, this isn't what I meant when I told you to go fly a kite.

Very, very cool by the way!