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UpToWhere · Can you see it?

Can you see Cape Dezhnev, Russia from Cape Mountain, Wales, Alaska?

Yes — you can

93.1 km line of sight toward the northwest (bearing -53°), computed on 30 m Copernicus terrain with Earth curvature and standard atmospheric refraction.

"You can see Russia from Alaska" became a punchline — but on the Bering Strait it's just Tuesday. From the mountains behind the village of Wales, the cliffs of Siberia stand on the horizon of the Western Hemisphere.

3D terrain view from Cape Mountain, Wales, Alaska toward Cape Dezhnev, Russia
Straight-line distance93.1 km
Direction-53° northwest
Observer eye level499 m
Target elevation649 m
Curvature drop at the target592 m
Clearance margin+23 m

From Cape Mountain, Wales, Alaska, at an eye level of 499 m, the sightline to Cape Dezhnev, Russia runs 93.1 km and clears every ridge in between. Over that distance Earth's curvature drops the target 592 m below a flat-earth line — but at 649 m, it still rises above the horizon. The view is geometrically real: whether you actually get it depends on haze, not terrain. The tightest squeeze is mid-path, where the sightline passes just 23 m above the terrain at km 93.1.

The line on the map

Satellite map with the sightline from Cape Mountain, Wales, Alaska to Cape Dezhnev, Russia drawn in red
The 93.1 km sightline over satellite imagery, drawn as the great-circle path light would follow.

The terrain profile

-0 m1,000 m2,000 m sea level (curved) sightlineCape MountainCape Dezhnev 0 km93.1 km20406080
Elevation profile from Cape Mountain, Wales, Alaska to Cape Dezhnev, Russia. Like every elevation profile, the vertical axis is stretched (≈15× here) — but the geometry is real: mid-path, Earth's surface genuinely stands 170 m above the straight line between the two points (the dashed arc is sea level). Light bends only slightly around that bulge, so whatever it covers stays hidden.
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Frequently asked questions

Can you see Cape Dezhnev, Russia from Cape Mountain, Wales, Alaska?

Yes. The terrain-limited line of sight is clear across 93.1 km, accounting for Earth's curvature and standard atmospheric refraction. Atmospheric haze is the only thing that can hide the view.

How far is Cape Dezhnev, Russia from Cape Mountain, Wales, Alaska in a straight line?

93.1 km great-circle distance, on a bearing of -53° (northwest).

How much does Earth's curvature hide over 93.1 km?

At the target's distance the curvature drop is about 592 m: anything lower than that (relative to the observer's horizon plane) is hidden behind the bulge of the Earth. Cape Dezhnev, Russia is tall enough to rise above it.

How was this calculated?

UpToWhere walks the full terrain profile between the two points on 30 m-resolution Copernicus GLO-30 elevation data, applying Earth curvature and standard atmospheric refraction (k = 0.13) — the same physics surveyors use. You can run the same point-to-point check between any two places on Earth.

More famous sightlines

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