Mauna Kea

The drive begins in tropical heat and ends in thin, freezing air at 13,796 feet. Above the cloud line, observatory domes catch the last sunlight while the sky behind them deepens from blue to black. This is Mauna a Wākea, the mountain of the sky father, and long before the astronomers arrived, its summit was the realm of the gods.

Maunakea holds major spiritual significance to Native Hawaiians: in tradition it is the first-born mountain son of Wākea and Papa, the piko connecting land to heavens, its summit a wao akua once kapu to all but the highest chiefs and priests. Visit in that knowledge: the sacred framing is the mountain's own, and reverence is the entry requirement. The summit also happens to sit above roughly forty per cent of Earth's atmosphere, which is why several of the world's most powerful telescopes stand here, and why winter storms can leave snow on a tropical island's crown. On the right January day you can stand in snow at the summit and swim a coral reef by afternoon. First stop is the visitor station at 9,200 feet to acclimatise; the summit road above it is 4x4-only, vehicles must arrive clean of invasive species, and the summit closes half an hour after sunset; the stars belong to the slopes below.