Crew steps up to challenge

By Eloise Aguiar
Advertiser Windward O'ahu Writer

KANE'OHE — Fifty-mph gusts, torrential rains and cold air near the top of the Ko'olau Range often threaten the ability of the work crew repairing Ha'iku Stairs, but the men who labor on the ridge say they don't regret taking on the job.

Workers repairing the Ha'iku Stairs say it can take 45 minutes just to hike to the work site. Sometimes they must carry 75 pounds of equipment from a staging area to the work area. Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser

Until then the stairs are closed to the public.

On the worst days when the rain doesn't stop, the men won't attempt the slippery climb. But even on the best of days they still face difficult conditions, fighting the cold and wind while working on a cliff face that has a 70-degree slope in some places.

So it takes a special man who can handle more than the construction work, said Zak Shinall, project foreman of The Nakoa Companies Inc.

The work is fairly simple, but the men have to hike up and down up sections of the stairs as many as five times a day, carrying 75 pounds of equipment from a staging area to the work area.

"Every guy on the job has to be a bull," said Shinall, 33. "He's gotta be able to hike up the hill every day."

When they do go up, especially in these past few winter months, they're well prepared, dressed in three to four layers and carrying extra clothing in case they get wet, along with rain gear, water, food and tools. No one wants to go down to the bottom and climb back up because they forgot something.

It's not unusual to take 45 minutes to hike to the work site, and be covered in sweat when they get there, Shinall said, adding that getting chilled can be one more hardship when it's 50 degrees and the wind is blowing. But the men dry off, stretch out, get a drink and get to work.

The crew agreed that bad weather, including periodic squalls, is the hardest part of the job. Because they are so high, they can see the rain coming and have to decide whether to don the rain gear or head for cover. With only two spots to get out of the rain, they're not always fast enough.

"You can run but you can't hide," joked Eric Heilbron, 40, adding that the wind is another challenge. "It's like someone pushing you constantly in one direction."

Work on the project is broken up into 593 modules, with each having six or seven steps. A helicopter is used to place material about 100 modules apart. Two locking boxes remain on the mountain to hold their tools. But If something doesn't work, no one can hop in the truck and head to a hardware store; they have to rely on their ingenuity.

"We do a lot of MacGyvering," said Heilbron, referring to the television program "MacGyver" in which the lead character got out of trouble using gadgets he would create on the spot from limited materials.

Heilbron, who took a leave of absence from Hawaiian Airlines to help rebuild the stairs, called the project a novelty job, but Shinall had to beg him to join the crew. Having climbed the stairs several times while growing up in Kailua, he said he knew what to expect.

"We're all like monkeys," he said. "We know how to climb. We know how to hold on."

But two of the four men working last month had never climbed the stairs, although they grew up in Hawai'i.

Larry Joseph, 29, and Richard Terrado, 27, said when the job began they were excited, and Joseph predicted he could get up the stairs quickly.

The men laughed, remembering that he ran out of steam on the 40th module, 280 steps or less than 10 percent of the way up.

After all these months of climbing up and down, the stairs still are a challenge, they said. They've had no injuries. At times the legs still hurt at the end of the day and muscles are tight. Only once did someone forget his lunch and had to go back down to get it. But Joseph said he never would.

"I would starve for the rest of the day," Joseph said.

Despite the hardship of working in rainy, windy conditions in a limited space the men all recognize that the job site is one of their best and will be remembered because of the spectacular view and clean air, which they have enjoyed every day. They can see from Makapu'u to La'ie on one side and from Honolulu to the Wai'anae Range on the other.

"It's hard not to look around and just take it in," Shinall said. "Till this day we're pretty much in awe with it."

The project may be completed by the end of March. If so, it will be seven months ahead of schedule. Shinall said he's ready to move on.

"Every day is special up here, but it is getting to the time when we're ready to wrap it up and move on," he said.