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Haʻikū Stairs • Kāneʻohe, Oʻahu

2022 marks the 80th anniversary of the world-famous Haʻikū Stairs (aka Stairway to Heaven). Countless thousands have safely climbed the Stairs to the peak of Pu‘u Keahiakahoe and experienced its mesmerizing beauty. Tragically, in March 2022, the Honolulu City Council reinvigorated their plans to remove the Stairs. We need your help to save this historic landmark and preserve the surrounding ‘āina for future generations.

save stairway to heaven

Haʻikū Stairs • Kāneʻohe, Oʻahu

2022 marks the 80th anniversary of the world-famous Haʻikū Stairs (aka Stairway to Heaven). Countless thousands have safely climbed the Stairs to the peak of Pu‘u Keahiakahoe and experienced its mesmerizing beauty. Tragically, in March 2022, the Honolulu City Council reinvigorated their plans to remove the Stairs. We need your help to save this historic landmark and preserve the surrounding ‘āina for future generations.

Petition to Stop Removal of the Stairs

Save Haʻikū Stairs- Kaneohe, Oahu

Here’s the Plan…

We need your help to make this happen.

Save Haʻikū Stairs- Kaneohe, Oahu

Legal Action

Funds raised will support legal action to save the historic Haʻikū Stairs and its surrounding environment.

Save Haʻikū Stairs- Kaneohe, Oahu

Build Community Awareness

Collaborate with local stakeholders and ‘āina organizations to spread the true facts about the Haʻikū Stairs and develop a shared vision for its future.

Save Haʻikū Stairs- Kaneohe, Oahu

Mobilize the Public

Organize a petition drive to enlist O‘ahu voters in the fight to save the Haʻikū Stairs and restore them to public use under a sustainable, managed access regime.

Press Coverage 

Save Haʻikū Stairs- Kaneohe, Oahu

Questions + Answers

Commonly asked questions and answers about Ha’ikū Stairs.

QUESTION: Are they dangerous?

ANSWER:

The Haʻikū Stairs are anchored to the mountain by 3-foot steel pins, have handrails either side, and have a proven record as one of the safest hikes on the island. In their 80-year history there have been 0 deaths and 0 liability claims related to an injury on the Stairs.

QUESTION: Are they broken?

ANSWER:

The Haʻikū Stairs were completely rehabilitated in 2001 at a cost of almost $1m taxpayer dollars. The Friends of Haʻikū Stairs maintained the Stairs until disallowed in 2015. Each step is made from ¼-inch non-slip steel. Of the 595 Stair modules that make up the Haʻikū Stairs, about 9 modules are currently damaged by fallen branches.

QUESTION:  Is there a legal way up the Stairs?

ANSWER:

Management of the Haʻikū Stairs was transferred to the City and County of Honolulu in 2020. Any person found climbing or even near the Stairs is liable for a trespassing citation and a steep fine. Alternate ways of climbing to the peak of Pu‘u Keahiakahoe are possible but are causing severe erosion and degradation of the surrounding ‘āina.

QUESTION: What about the cost of rescuing hikers from the Haʻikū Stairs?

ANSWER:

Hikers get lost, injured, and require rescue on many island trails. However, this is much less likely to occur on the Haʻikū Stairs. The Haʻikū Stairs are a staircase with flat, evenly-spaced steps, with non-slip treads and handrails on either side.

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QUESTION: What about liability to the City?

ANSWER:

City Council hearings in 2021 confirmed that no-one has ever made a liability claim on the City related to an injury on the Stairs. In any case, future access could be conditioned on signing a waiver of liability.

QUESTION: Are they open?

ANSWER:

After rehabilitating the Haʻikū Stairs in 2001 in order to open them to the public, the City & County of Honolulu permanently closed the stairway because of litigation worries related to a tragedy at another hike on the island (Sacred Falls).

Stairs History

Haikū Stairs history from the beginning till now.

The Haʻikū Stairs were built in 1942 as part of a groundbreaking Navy communications endeavor that amplified radio signals using the steep topography of the surrounding valley. In order to accomplish this technological first, two volunteers forged a route for 21 straight days up the ridgeline to the peak above Haʻikū Valley, known as Puʻu Keahiakahoe in ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi. From the ridgeline, copper cables were strung across the valley. Using the Alexanderson Alternator positioned in the center of the valley, radio signals could reach submarines in Tokyo Bay who were by then fully engaged in the war in the Pacific.

The original wooden Haʻikū Stairs were replaced by a steel structure in the 1950s and were then reinforced by the City in the 1990s in order to add handrails and safety barriers. Other than two sections damaged by falling branches, the Haʻikū Stairs remain in great shape. Modular in design, any section can be replaced while the structural integrity of the Stairs remains intact. In fact, they are probably the safest way to ascend a mountain. In the entire 80-year history of the Haʻikū Stairs there have been 0 deaths and nobody has ever made a liability claim on the City & County of Honolulu related to an injury on the Stairs.

The Friends of Haʻikū Stairs is an all-volunteer 501(c)(3) nonprofit group that was formed in 1987. Our mission is to protect the historic Haʻikū Stairs and its environment for current and future generations. Until recently we made routine maintenance climbs of the Haʻikū Stairs and undertook work that involved tightening bolts, removing invasive species, and mitigating run-off.

We performed detailed plant studies that listed the rare and endangered flora you can see as you safely ascend the Haʻikū Stairs to its 2,800 foot summit. But now, as we celebrate the 80th anniversary of this world-famous landmark, the City and County of Honolulu is prepared to remove them.

The outcry has been enormous. Of the 1,442 pieces of testimony submitted during City Council hearings, over 92% was in direct support of managed access—a way of keeping the Haʻikū Stairs open while removing the trespassing nuisance to homeowners who live adjacent to valley access points. The Friends of Haʻikū Stairs has a managed access plan that attends to concerns raised by neighbors and community members (download your copy here). We are also committed to ongoing discussions with the community in order to refine this plan so that it best serves the long-term interests of the ahupuaʻa.

We believe that removing the historic Haʻikū Stairs will not only cost millions more than has been anticipated, removal will also cause an adverse environmental situation: rare and native plants disturbed; land made unstable on a steep slope that is regularly inundated by heavy rains. Right now we need urgent funds to fight the City Council and prove that their decision in support of a budget for removal considered neither the facts of the situation nor the testimony of the very people who voted for them. Funds will go directly to the fight—for organizing a petition drive, for widening our reach so more people know the facts of the situation, for a legal and political campaign to stop the removal and reverse the decision.

Join our fight today! It’s now or never for the historic Haʻikū Stairs.

Kokonut Koalition - volunteer day and community outreach

Community Help 

Help preserve not only Ha’ikū Stairs but other aina restoration on Oahu.

Kokonut Koalition.org

Saturdays starting at 7 am

Fish Pond Clean Up

April 30th

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