Mauna Kea Summit Adventures

10/14/2024

🌌 Rare Comet Sighting on Mauna Kea 🌠

Last night during our Sunset & Stargazing tour, one of our guides (Arthur) captured an incredible photo of Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS (C/2023 A3) using just a smartphone at an elevation of 11,000 feet! This rare celestial visitor is making its closest pass to Earth in 80,000 years, and we’re thrilled to share this stunning moment with our guests.

While the comet will start to fade as it moves higher in the sky and farther from the Sun, it will remain visible through our telescopes during stargazing sessions for the rest of the month. Don’t miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see it with your own eyes on our tour! 🌠✨

Join us for an unforgettable night under the stars on Mauna Kea. 🌙

08/13/2024

Here is a flashback to our first advertisement on Big Island TV.

12/01/2022

Video of the current Mauna Loa eruption. A fissure opened with a curtain of lava fountains blasting over 160 feet into the air. This is the view through one of our telescopes from the slopes of Mauna Kea. As long as the eruption lasts, and as long as we have access to Mauna Kea our guides will make every effort to capture this view for everyone to see.

12/01/2022

Time Lapse of the recent volcanic activity on Mauna Loa. This footage was captured on November 29 at about 8 PM for one hour. Take a close look and you might notice a small volcanic funnel cloud spinning around the midsection of the rivers of lava. Photos captured by our Manager Mike.

11/30/2022

2022 Mauna Loa eruption. The rivers of lava are working their way down towards Saddle Road In the shape of the big island. Pretty amazing! Photograph captured on the mid-mountain slopes of Mauna Kea. Road is open today and we are running a tour.
Photograph by our Manager, Mike

11/28/2022

Happening now… Mauna Loa eruption at summit in Moku‘āweoweo Caldera. Image captured by our guide Mike Sessions at 2 AM from southside of Maunakea. 

06/09/2022

COVID UPDATE. 6/9/2022
Due to an uptick in local cases, we are requiring masks while in our vehicles. This is temporary and we hope to get back to normal soon. Passengers might consider taking a quick, self test the day before the tour; so that you can cancel in a timely fashion if needed.

04/21/2022

COVID Update: 4/20/22 As of today we will allow passengers with proof of vaccination to ride without a mask. If you don't have a vaccination card you will still need a mask. We don't anticipate this phase to last for very long. We still highly encourage the wearing of masks while in our vehicles. Your cooperation is, and has been, greatly appreciated.

08/11/2021

Governor Ige has just announced a return to maximum, indoor group size limits of 10 persons (9PAX+guide). This is, unfortunately, effective immediately. We will have to trim our reservations by 35% effective for 8/11/21. We will cancel the newest reservations first. There will not be any chance of rebooking except for a few parties of one or the cancellation standby list. If you receive a cancellation message, please call us back to confirm receipt. We apologize that this ruling came so suddenly from the Governor. We expect this to last at least a month or two.

05/11/2021

A beautiful We**am image of the twilight glow and the Big Dog just about done for the year.

03/11/2021

We just sent out our first mass email to our customers from the last 5 years. Hopefully, many of you that have been on the tour, will receive it correctly. There is a sweet deal included. I would appreciate anyone that gets this in their spam mail to let me know. We will NOT be sending, many of these.

03/10/2021

The weather has been a little wild here in Hawaii. It has been snowing off and on for the last 24hours. We'll probably get some more before its over. When it clears it will be a spectacular sight. Mahalo to CFHT for the web cam grab.

02/27/2021

Mauna Kea is an amazing place from which to view atmospheric optics and sky phenomena. These sprites are very exotic but in just the last 24 hours we have had crepuscular rays, anti-crepuscular rays, glories, Moonbows and rainbows. In addition the full Moon rose through the apex of an Earth shadow last night. Come join us for the best show on Earth and stay for the amazing night sky.

Providing the latest research, discoveries and scientific breakthroughs for science enthusiasts

02/19/2021

We canceled today's tour due to an unusual thunderstorm development on the west side of the island. It did not spoil the sunset and we apologize for the cancellation. The thunderstorm is still active and you can see the lightning in this we**am image of south Kona. Mahalo to Gemini North Observatory for the we**am image

02/04/2021

There’s never been a better time to go on a high mountain excursion with Mauna Kea Summit Adventures. Photo taken by one of our guides on a recent tour.

02/03/2021

Sometimes a few clouds can make a sunset more dramatic. We will be displaying our thousands of photos on this page. Please like us if you'd like to see more of them. Pat

01/28/2021

01/28/2021

01/26/2021

It's snowing on Mauna Kea and up to a foot is expected. It started last night and about 4"s has fallen so far mixed with a bit of drizzle. The road is closed and probably will stay that way for another day. When the road opens, probably Wednesday or Thursday (more likely) we'll be there. There are still some seats available on both days. Mahalo to Keck Observatory for their we**am image.

01/19/2021