Proud to announce the opening of the photo exhibition “On the Road of Bones: Ghosts of the Siberian Gulag Along the Old Kolyma Highway” at Kris Waldherr Art and Words studio gallery in Brooklyn, New York, today.

About exhibition
Through photography and mixed media, “On the Road of Bones” reveals the secret history and hidden landscape of Kolyma, formerly the land of Soviet labor camps and the coldest inhabited region on earth. Stunning new works by young native Siberian photographers Bolot Bochkarev, Nastya Borisova, and Ajar Varlamov trace the remains of the vast highway built across the taiga, tundra, and permafrost of North Asia by Stalin’s prisoners. The exhibition juxtaposes the tragic events of the past with the powerful natural beauty of the frozen land and the daily lives of northern people.

Frankly saying, I and my friends didn’t plan to have any event. This year we had just wonderful journey to Oymyakon (about the travel), but New York-based exhibition curator Thomas Ross Miller said we needed to do some. We’ll here we are.

More info and opening day photographs at eYakutia.com .

Today’s top local news is totally dedicted to Norwegian adventure travelers lost allegedly in the Oymyakonsky region by the Embassy of Norway and found by the Russian rescuers. They were okey.

They appeared to be very naive travelers. They thought they would be the first who made it to Magadan by the old route of the Kolyma Highway in winter. Even experienced local drivers know that driving from Tomtor directly to Magadan that way is impossible, because it is impassable, it is covered with thick snow. Now they are forced to say they got stuck due to the breakage of their Mercedes Benz off-road vehicle. That’s the myth!

Oh, man! That’s funny and not funny at the same time, but these travelers will gaily and proudly tell their friends, how they were searched by Norwegian diplomats and the army of the Russian rescuers. “What a fun we had!” they can say for sure.

Guys, please, do not repeat after these Norwegians. Act responsibly.

In the picture: The ice road over the Lena River to Yakutsk.

So what happened? The story is the following.

Yesterday, on Dec.22, at 4:30 pm, the Republic’s affiliate of the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry received a call from the Embassy of Norway in Russia with the request to find three Norwegian travelers, who were driving from Moscow to Magadan via the Pole of Cold.

Norway’s Embassy informed that their citizens are between Yakutsk and Magadan and, according to travelers’ plan, they must be near Tomtor, the Oymyakonsky region. Something terrible must be happened.

At 8:00 pm a rescue team departed from Tomtor, Oymyakonsky region, and at 8:50 another team started the search from the village of Myaundzha, Magadan Oblast.

At 11:10 pm rescuers found Norwegians. They were alive and felt good.

That’s the story.

They were stuck on the old route of the Road of Bones between Tomtor and Magadan Oblast. If to be more precise, that’s 150 km from Tomtor. (It seems like it’s the same place, where the Turkish off-road driver stuck the last rainy autumn.) When stuck, they gave a call to the Embassy via a satellite phone and let know about their current location.

It’s good :) they had a satellite phone.
But it is NOT good that they ignored travel tips.

Btw, I wrote here much about this part. Once again I am saying. This part on the old route of the Kolyma Highway after Tomtor is impassable in winter. It is not used at all by locals. It is burried under the thick snow cover.”

Yeah, adventure is priority, but, please…
Act responsibly and wisely!

Hmm. Strange. How come three big Norwegians couldn’t pull out their only Mercedes Benz vehicle?.. Just recalled the last year’s winter story…

A German off-road team got stuck on the Road of Bones and asked for help. Rescuers arrived, and those German guys didn’t even get out of the car to help locals. Their car was pulled out manually together with travelers sitting inside. A very impolite act. We understand that they didn’t accustom to be outdoors in the extreme cold, but they could help locals a little. Just sit inside and wait for help and do nothing… this is a very strange. Btw, later they described themselves as heroes in interviews to mass media.

Norwegians say officially their car was broken, but locals do not believe this myth.

Already received feedbacks to this story from Susan, British Columbia:

They are very lucky to be alive.

Actually, if this happened in Canada, they may have gotten a bill from the rescuers. This sort of idiocy happens here, also, but mostly from skiers who go out of bounds. Here, if you are lost in the woods/bush you will die within one or two days. And locals must rescue people, thus putting their own lives at risk. This has happened too many times in British Columbia that lately some regions and municipalities have started to send bills to people who have acted irresponsibly. (skiing or snowboarding out of bounds is a very common problem, another idiotic problem is people who think they are ‘expert’ hikers, but then they hike alone and break their leg). There will be police, rescue teams, helicopters, dog teams, volunteer locals, and more.

We had a couple from Quebec who skied out of bounds in a high snowy mountain in British Columbia. They were lost for maybe 7 days? The woman died. The man survived. He sued the rescuers (rude of him), but the court said it was his fault for going out of bounds on purpose.

Yeah, we have to adopt Canada’s billing experience here.

UPDATE: Wow, more details I learned about these guys.

1. They arrived on an old small Mercedes Benz car.
2. They confessed they got stuck as fuel was finished.

It appears that they tried to overcome the impassable part of the Road of Bones on a small car without fuel. Haha. This part of their journey deserves to be included in the film script they are about to submit to a Hollywood producer. Yeah, Hollywood is their final destination. Crazy boys :)

It must be a great honor for me. It’s not the first time when I am asked to post a press release. This time the 2009 Yakutsk Mammoth Tusks Auction organizing committee addressed me with the request to share the event announcement. Well… Here we go.

1. Official name and address of the Auction organizing party
Open Joint-Stock Company “SakhaEXPOMammoth”, building 24, Vilyuiskiy trakt, 4th km, Yakutsk, Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Russian Federation

2. Subject of the Auction
The subject of the Auction is the right to conclude a purchase-sell contract on mammoth tusks and other mammoth fauna – both raw and partially processed – to juridical entities and natural persons.

3. Time and place of the Auction

Date: December 9, 2009
Place: Auditorium, 8th floor, block B, Business center, Kirova str. 18, Yakutsk, Russian Federation

4. General Provisions

● The Auction is held in pursuance of the Decree of the President of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) dated March 30, 2005 N2044 “Of a special status of natural resources – fossil remains of mammoth fauna – and regulation of its circulation on the territory of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia)”, to attain realistic price-formation on mammoth tusks and other mammoth fauna, obtained on the territory of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia).
● The Auction is held in an open form with public bidding.
● The organizing party of the Auction is Open Joint-Stock Company “SakhaEXPOMammoth” with the assistance of the State Committee of Geology and Use of Natural Resources of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) and the Ministry of External Relations of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia).
● The sellers at the Auction are juridical entities and natural persons of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), having ownership rights of the subject of the Auction.
● The Bidders of the Auction are legal entities and natural persons, having submitted the application forms and other documents required by the present General Provisions in due terms and having paid the registration fee for participation in the Auction.
● Foreign juridical entities and natural persons are admitted to the Auction providing that they conform to the requirements set by the Russian Federation legislation.
● The winner of the Auction shall be the bidder bidding the highest price for a lot.

5. Additional information

The Auction participants – sellers may put in storage their selling mammoth tusks in advance to the Open Joint-Stock Company “SakhaEXPOMammoth”.

The Auction participants may obtain additional information, read the Condition and Terms of the Auction, and submit the application form to the address given below weekdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. local time.

Contact Info:
Address: Building 24, Vilyuiskiy trakt, 4th km, Yakutsk, Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), 677008.
Tel/fax: +7-4112-368401

Deadline
The deadline for submitting the application forms is set as: December 4, 2009, 3 p.m. Yakutsk time (GMT + 09:00).

Download 2009YakutskMammothTusksAuction.zip (223Kb) with the auction documentation (application form, program, the Decree of Yakutia’s President, information on regulations, Auction Committee, Conciliatory Committee).

Three Valleys Innovation Technopark invites international companies to join the permanent online exhibition “New Technologies and Innovations for the Economy of Sakha Republic (Yakutia)”.

The aims of the Online Exposition are to attract domestic and foreign advanced technologies into the main sectors of our economy, to support entrepreneurial activity in Yakutia region and stimulate technological cooperation.

Online exposition is known as innovative and actively developing form of exhibition, characterized by high efficiency level and low expense costs.

In order to promote Online Expositions, Expo.Ykt.Ru is worked out. It is now a prestigious Yaknet platform, where leading enterprises of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) have already been introduced.

We invite foreign developers, producers, suppliers of new technologies, service companies to announce Your products, technologies and services in the Exposition sections:

• building industry
• transport
• energy efficiency, housing and communal services
• food
• agriculture

The exhibition is to be accompanied by an advertising campaign, including leading Sakha Republic (Yakutia) media, outdoor advertising and information network Ykt.Ru facilities.

We focus on a long-term cooperation, development of new industries in our republic and therefore offer the Online Exposition participants various forms of co-operation.

For more information:

visit the website New Technologies and Innovations for the Economy of Sakha Republic (Yakutia) (in Russian)
call the manager by skype user threevalleysusu
mail to: platonova@yaknet.com

Andrew I with a creative studio “A Novigator” announced a descent to the deepest well in the world, Shergin’s shaft, to take place in Yakutsk on October 20, 2009. Update, 21.10.2009: The even was postponed till November 04, 2009.

An exclusive speleological tour into the unique well, that is 116 meters deep, as long as a 40-store building,and surrounded with permafrost!

The hole of this well was dug in permafrost for more than 10 years. A construction was finished in 1829. Fyodor Shergin was a manager of a joint trade Russian-American company (a joint trade Russian-American company manager) and he leaded this construction. Not knowing about deepness of permafrost seam, Shergin argued that he would obtain water. But he couldn’t do it. Deepness of permafrost seam lies 225 meters down in this region.

The shaft has been used for scientific purposes by the Russian Academy since then. It served as a jolt to originate and to develop a new scientific direction.

Generally admitted Shergin’s shaft is considered to be a crandle of geocreology (or permafrost)!

Only several persons have been at the bottom of the well for the whole period of its existence. Risking very much, they were descended to the well by a hemp rope due to the windlass specially made.

The bottom of the well was descended last in 1934.

In 1942 the rope of the descending device was broken off under the mysterious circumstances.

In the eighties because of thawing water in the upper part of the well a glacial stopper had appeared which insulated the shaft from the outside world.

In 2007 a project of Shergin’s shaft restoration was elaborated by the initiative group of Andrew I with the creative studio and “The Novigator”.

During this period there was a large number of skeptics who made the most pessimistic predictions that the well was full of water, ice and fragments of broken rope.

In winter 2009 specialists from the SS RAS Institute of Permafrost carried out a test drilling the upper part of the well. This drilling confirmed “The Novigator” expectations that thickness of the icy stopper was more than 10 meters.

In June 2009 a specially prepared by “The Novigator” specialists video-finder was put down through the hole of 20 centimeters in diameter. A unique videomaterial about shaft videofixation till 110 meters depth was received.

The well was finally kept. There are several well-holes without any timberlings except some parts of the shaft strengthened with larch ones. The upper part of isolated stopper ends with icy stalactites. There is one more stopper from icy formations with thickness of 2 meters to a depth of 20 meters. This stopper is not full of ice, but it has got a hole in it.

The lower part of the shaft has a deep effect of ice crystals with amazing beauty which cover the walls (covering the walls). The larch timberlings look like as if they had been installed yesterday, not more than 160 years ago.

As a result of this work a documentary film “A descent” will be on in the very near future.

Nobody has been at the bottom of the well for more than 70 years.

The intrigue of the forthcoming descent to the bottom of the well is connected with mysteries and legends:
• According to the first legend Fyodor Shergin hid some value at the bottom of the well including a ring with a diamond which he was awarded by the emperor Nickolai I.
• In the days of the Soviet Union this shaft was equipped for carrying out secret tests.
• In the depth of the well (everywhere in permafrost) there are unexplicable anomalous phenomena.

Except this there is an objective difference in forthcoming descent organization.

If there is the lack of minus temperatures on the outside, air ventilation doesn’t occur inside the shaft, that’s why there is no any oxygen at the bottom of the well.

On the 20th of October in 2009 the ice stopper in the mouth of the well will be open. An assault team consisting of four persons equipped with potable videocams will descend at the bottom according to a TV show “Shergin’s shaft storm show”.

In the future it is planned, not changing the configuration of the shaft, to organize an exclusive speleological tour for extremists.

It will be a descent to the Shergin’s shaft bottom! (in mountain outfit).

The speleological tour of maxi extrim will be held in summer when there is no oxygen at the bottom of the well.

There is hardly the same place anywhere in the world except Yakutia!

The name of the project with four “Ss” in abbreviation joined together symbolizes an ancient Solar symbol and a square. Sun sign personifies endless ways of life, directed by nature. A square with rays reminds an outline of the well with walls strengthened by wood. The well is open.

It symbolizes a good sign and good luck.

Andrew I
leader of creative studio “The Novigator”.
shaxta_shergina@mail.ru
+7-924-46-11-016

More pics of previous Ysyakh at Flickr.com

This summer Yakutsk’s Ysyakh (Ысыах), Yakut national holidays, will be held on June 27-28, 2009. Location is Ys Khatyn (Yс Хатынг), 20 minutes by car northward from Yakutsk, near the settlement of Zhatai (Жатай). The opening ceremony will take place on the first day, Saturday, at 12.00.

Note: Yakutsk Ysyakh takes place traditionally on the last weekend of June.

An Oymyakon-based travel enthusiast, Semen Baishev, informed me that in the course of summer he is going to arrange tours to the legendary Labynkyr Lake that is famous for a monster.

Labynkyr is located in Oymyakonsky ulus (map), East Yakutia. Precisely, to the south from the village of Tomtor and the old part of the Kolyma Highway. More location details can be found in the post “Where is the famous Lake Labynkyr with monsters?”

If anyone is interested to take this travel opportunity, please, ask your questions here via the following webform. On my turn, I’ll translate and reforward your question to Semen Baishev. Answers will be posted in this entry.

P.S. Please, note, I am not a travel agent/company. Everything is done for the sake of the weblog and voluntarily.

Ask your questions:

cforms contact form by delicious:days