The island had never been heavily populated in its entire history because it sits in the rain shadow of Maui's towering Haleakala Volcano and it doesn't have any high mountains of its own that can capture moisture independently.
Of course, there have always been people who have looked for adventure — those who have climbed the highest mountains, searched into unknown parts of the world or sailed in small boats across the greatest oceans.
The shade houses are built on the slopes of barren mountains, high up and with no shelter, so as to make full use of the hot dry winds in the Turpan Basin.
A Nepalese mountain guide Kami Rita Sherpa has reached the top of Mount Everest for the 27th time, beating his own record for the most climbs of the world's highest mountain.
However, alpine could mean just any region of really, really high mountains where there's probably going to be snow at the top, especially during winter.