The Northern Pole of Inaccessibility, in the Arctic, is one of the orignal Eight Poles.

The Northern Pole of Inaccessibility is defined as the point in the Arctic Ocean that is the farthest from any coastline. Unlike the continental poles of inaccessibility, this one does not rest on land but lies amid the drifting pack ice of the central Arctic Basin.

• Latitude: 85°48’N
• Longitude: 176°9’W
• Distance from land: 1008 km/626 miles

The closest coasts are those of Henrietta Island in the De Long group, Cape Arctic on Severnaya Zemlya, and Ellesmere Island in the Canadian Arctic.

Because the sea ice is always in motion, the pole itself is never a permanent or fixed spot on the ice surface.

Historic attempts to the Arctic Pole of Inaccessibility

The Northern PIA was originally thought to be at  84°3′N 174°51′W. Nobody knows for sure where these coordinates came from. Perhaps they were calculated by Vilhjalmur Stefansson, or perhaps by the aviator Sir Hubert Wilkins who first attempted to fly across the Arctic in 1927.

Reaching this location has proven far more difficult than simply walking to a set of coordinates. The constantly shifting ice, extreme cold, and sheer remoteness mean that very few expeditions have ever attempted to stand at this pole.

Sir Wally Herbert came close to being the first to this pole in 1968 by dogsled, bt failed due to the ice pack movements. Then a Russian expedition including Dmitry Shparo said they skied thruogh the pole one arctic night, but offered no other proof.

In 2005, explorer Jim McNeill asked scientists at the National Snow and Ice Data Center and the Scott Polar Research Institute to update the position of the pole using modern GPS and satellite data. The revised location (coordinates above) was later published in Polar Record in 2013. McNeill set out the following year (2006) to be the first to reach it while also gathering sea-ice data for NASA, but the expedition was forced to turn back. He tried again in 2010 with his Ice Warrior team, only to be beaten once more by the poor state of the drifting ice.

Other explorers, such as the Norwegian Børge Ousland, have also approached the area, but the shifting ice and logistical challenges have ensured that the Northern Pole of Inaccessibility remains one of the least-visited and most elusive points on Earth.

Finally, on the On 12 September 2024, the French Icebreaker ship, Le Commandant Charcot, became the first ship to definitively reach the Northern Pole of Inaccessibility.

Getting to the Northern Pole of Inaccessibility

Journey currently under way!

Date Visited: 2025
Weather: -XX° Celsius/-YY° Fahrenheit.
Coordinates Achieved: 
Distance from Pole: