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St. Matthew Island is said to be the most remote place in Alaska

hakaimagazine.com

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Re: St. Matthew Island is said to be the most remote place in Alaska

#11

Post by jsackmann »

notsuoh wrote: post #2

I've always been really interested in these far flung places and used to spend hours on Google Earth scanning the middles of the oceans for islands like this and think about how to visit them. In particular I've always been fascinated by Tristan da Cunha which has a village and is livable if you can get there: https://wikitravel.org/en/Tristan_da_Cunha And Bouvet Island, which is totally uninhabited: https://en.m.wik…

Those Antarctic islands are the Balleny Islands. I took a cruise a couple of years ago from NZ to Antarctica, and we were able to land on Borradaile island [1], one of the Ballenys. I can't find my notes for the exact figure, but the historian on board said that, including us, only a few hundred people had ever set foot there. Many expeditions pass within sight of them, but landing is treacherous--IIRC, we went onshore for about an hour in the morning, and by lunch it no longer would've been possible to do so.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borradaile_Island

Re: St. Matthew Island is said to be the most remote place in Alaska

#12

Post by dmckeon »

sandworm101 wrote: post #6

Remote is more than a measure of distance on a map. Among climbers there is a logic about remote places: it took a week to get to the moon and back. There are places on rock faces and up mountians that take longer, that are more remote than the moon. In places like the alaska/canadian/russian north is very possible to be trapped by weather for days, weeks, even months. That is more remote than any island.

Here is a place (San Agustín sump) that takes 3 weeks to get to from the cave entrance: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sistema_Huautla

Re: St. Matthew Island is said to be the most remote place in Alaska

#13

Post by walrus01 »

sandworm101 wrote: post #6

Remote is more than a measure of distance on a map. Among climbers there is a logic about remote places: it took a week to get to the moon and back. There are places on rock faces and up mountians that take longer, that are more remote than the moon. In places like the alaska/canadian/russian north is very possible to be trapped by weather for days, weeks, even months. That is more remote than any island.

Neal Stephenson invented a humorous and not entirely serious comparison of difficulty of ground travel, measured in "Lewis and Clark Expedition Day" (LAC).

In which the relative difficulty and trouble in covering an amount of terrain is measured in units of LACs, equivalent to the theorized amount of suffering a member of the LAC expedition experienced in one day.

Re: St. Matthew Island is said to be the most remote place in Alaska

#14

Post by [deleted] »

notsuoh wrote: post #2

I've always been really interested in these far flung places and used to spend hours on Google Earth scanning the middles of the oceans for islands like this and think about how to visit them. In particular I've always been fascinated by Tristan da Cunha which has a village and is livable if you can get there: https://wikitravel.org/en/Tristan_da_Cunha And Bouvet Island, which is totally uninhabited: https://en.m.wik…

[deleted]

Re: St. Matthew Island is said to be the most remote place in Alaska

#16

Post by xefer »

notsuoh wrote: post #2

I've always been really interested in these far flung places and used to spend hours on Google Earth scanning the middles of the oceans for islands like this and think about how to visit them. In particular I've always been fascinated by Tristan da Cunha which has a village and is livable if you can get there: https://wikitravel.org/en/Tristan_da_Cunha And Bouvet Island, which is totally uninhabited: https://en.m.wik…

Maybe you’re already aware of it, but the book “Atlas of Remote Islands” may be of interest:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlas_of_Remote_Islands

At one time you could group Wikipedia articles in “books” that you could have printed. I had collected all the islands listed in the book mentioned above into a sort of companion:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book:A_Companion_Guide_to_At...

Re: St. Matthew Island is said to be the most remote place in Alaska

#17

Post by acjohnson55 »

notsuoh wrote: post #2

I've always been really interested in these far flung places and used to spend hours on Google Earth scanning the middles of the oceans for islands like this and think about how to visit them. In particular I've always been fascinated by Tristan da Cunha which has a village and is livable if you can get there: https://wikitravel.org/en/Tristan_da_Cunha And Bouvet Island, which is totally uninhabited: https://en.m.wik…

Reminds me of René-Levasseur Island in Canada. It is a nearly circular island within a lake that's not much bigger than itself. And it, in turn, contains lakes, with islands within them.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ren%C3%A9-Levasseur+Island...

Re: St. Matthew Island is said to be the most remote place in Alaska

#18

Post by sandworm101 »

walrus01 wrote: post #13
sandworm101 wrote: post #6

Remote is more than a measure of distance on a map. Among climbers there is a logic about remote places: it took a week to get to the moon and back. There are places on rock faces and up mountians that take longer, that are more remote than the moon. In places like the alaska/canadian/russian north is very possible to be trapped by weather for days, weeks, even months. That is more remote than any island.

Neal Stephenson invented a humorous and not entirely serious comparison of difficulty of ground travel, measured in "Lewis and Clark Expedition Day" (LAC). In which the relative difficulty and trouble in covering an amount of terrain is measured in units of LACs, equivalent to the theorized amount of suffering a member of the LAC expedition experienced in one day.

The military does similar, measuring distance in days required for a footsoldier with a pack. A mountain forest in winter? Snow many meters deep with trees only a meter apart? Low visibility? Wind? Uphill? A platoon might move less than a single kilometer per day.

Re: St. Matthew Island is said to be the most remote place in Alaska

#19

Post by paulryanrogers »

sandworm101 wrote: post #10
rfergie wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ridiculous! It would take longer to get to the moon and back if you walked there. There is no place on Earth that you couldn't get to quicker if your budget was the same

Try flying a helicopter in the mountains during an alaskan blizzard. All the money in the world wont get you there any faster. And there are sides of cliffs where air rescue is impossible in even the best weather.

With 60s era NASA budgets, adjusted for inflation you might be able to invent a cannon and projectile which could reach such places much sooner.

Re: St. Matthew Island is said to be the most remote place in Alaska

#20

Post by rpeden »

acjohnson55 wrote: post #17
notsuoh wrote: post #2

I've always been really interested in these far flung places and used to spend hours on Google Earth scanning the middles of the oceans for islands like this and think about how to visit them. In particular I've always been fascinated by Tristan da Cunha which has a village and is livable if you can get there: https://wikitravel.org/en/Tristan_da_Cunha And Bouvet Island, which is totally uninhabited: https://en.m.wik…

Reminds me of René-Levasseur Island in Canada. It is a nearly circular island within a lake that's not much bigger than itself. And it, in turn, contains lakes, with islands within them. https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ren%C3%A9-Levasseur+Island...

That's always one of my favorites to look at. Zoom out a bit and it's really obvious that it was formed by a meteorite impact.

The whole lake is a giant hydroelectric reservoir, too.

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