I was curious if it’s possible to drive from Canada or Alaska to Russia across the arctic or from South America to Antarctica during winter months. I know it would be impractical, there being no gas stations or anything, but would there be an ice shelf that extends from one continent to the other? I don’t believe the Antarctic ice shelf would reach South America, but I believe Alaska and Canada and probably Russia stretch into considerably greater (though opposite) parallels of latitude.
If it is technically possible, what about the feasibility? How much distance is there between the two closest villages? It would take a lot of fuel, but there are trucks made to carry large amounts of fuel. It seems like a pretty cool feat to undertake, such as flying across the Atlantic Ocean for the first time.
Ever see the movie Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World? The storm scene portrays a good day in the Straits of Magellan between Tierra del Fuego at the end of South America and Antarctica. Not much snowmobiling going on there.
(Yes, I exaggerate–a little bit.)
I have often pondered if it would be possible to take a mud bog racing car and drive across the English channel. A mud bog car is light, ridiculously overpowered, has four-wheel-drive and wide V-treaded tires, and runs so fast that it basically skips across the water instead of rolling through it. http://images.google.com/images?q=mud%20bog%20racing&hl=en&lr=&safe=off&sa=N&tab=wi
Also another possibility might be to use a snowmobile, though I think the open waters would be a bit rough for such a short vehicle. People in the northern-US race snomobiles on lakes in the summer. Some pics here: http://www.cbearz.com/main/kent/fun.html
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Probably the worst seas on the planet. In 1915-1916, Ernest Shackleton and the crew of the Endurance attempted to cross Antarctica on foot. It’s a well-documented disaster. The desparate journey for rescue is one of the most amazing feats of navigation and survival ever accomplished.
It’s 500 miles from the tip of Cape Horn to the South Shetland Islands off the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula. It doesn’t freeze over to form an ice bridge, and is on the short list of nastiest stretches of water on the planet. An average of 200 days per year with gale force storms. Waves often reach 65 feet. Cruise ships and private yachts navigate it, but it rates as a definite challenge, even for modern vessels.