Issue link: https://bluemagazine.uberflip.com/i/25040
colu mn: blue moon text: gregory wunderlich photography: michael stewart Pacific water of the Kona coast on the Bi.9 Island of Hawaii is a ski run known as "Poi Bowl. From January to March. the 13.796-foot summit of the dormant volcano Mauna Kea ("white mountain" in Hawaiian) is topped with snow. Not too often does one get the chance to snowboard a volcano in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. It was still dark when my friend Doug picked me up at the Hilo air Just a two-hour drive from the warm port. It was raining as usual. but we didn't care-after a lot of planning we were going to snowboard Hawaii. We drove on the narrow. winding Saddle Road through the misty morning rain into the lava fields below Mauna Kea. At 9.300 feet. we pulled over to put on our winter clothes and lock the hubs of Doug's four-wheel-drive. Above the tree-line. we poked through the clouds and. to our surprise. found a beautiful day. We scrambled for our sunglasses and continued upwards until we reached the snow. I couldn't tell what the exact altitude was. but the air was pretty thin. We stood on snow-covered metamorphic rock. surrounded by a sky line of eleven giant metallic mushrooms-the Mauna Kea Observatories-and felt like we were visiting another planet. Looking down at the clouds and the lava was like being on the moon. Mauna Kea is a shield volcano. so basically it's dome shaped-kind of like a huge gum drop. But it's a fairly pointy gum drop and the slopes are surprisingly good. Even the eas iest route is exciting for beginners. and experts can find black diamond steeps if they do a lit tle hiking. Once you've seen this otherworldliness. you'll appreciate that the ocean isn't the only place to surf Hawaii. Native Hawaiians have been sledding and skiing Mauna Kea for years. but shred-