Pretty often I was asked about the condition of the old route of Kolyma Highway (known also as Stalin’s Road of Bones) between Tomtor and Magadan Oblast in summer, especially in July and August.

In the following videos, you can see what it was like on July 27th and 29th, 2012.

Saying tons of sincere thanks to the amazingly nice Australian family – Jon, Amanda & Lana, who travelled with their friends in Landcruisers from Vladivostok to Magadan via Yakutsk last July and August.

More about their travel you can learn from Jon, Amanda & Lana’s travel blog “Three In A Truck”

Crossing a river after the village of Tomtor, that is located near Oymyakon, the world’s coldest inhabite place in winter. On July 27th.

In this video you can see how Jon is measuring the depth of one of many mountain rivers on the old route of Kolyma Highway (Road of Bones).

This video contains many clips put together to show deep bogs and puddles that you can also experience and go through on the way to Magadan from Tomtor. On July 29th.

What was weather at that momement? Pretty hot. Between 30C and 40C.

Stay tuned! I’m about to publish dozens of their travel photographs right in this post to make more informative.

Meanwhile, you might wish to check all my posts dedicated to Kolyma Highway.

Last year on June 12, I met three Canadians, Ion, Richard and Kim in Yakutsk, Russia. They arrived on their Toyota Landcruiser, which they shipped from Australia to Vladivostok.

By the way, if you wonder about shipping to/from Vladivostok, get in touch with the best fixer I’ve ever known. His name is Yuri Melnikov, CEO of Links LTD.

If you follow my blog, you might remember I had written about their arrival in Yakutsk with attached photos and videos.

Here’s the link to that story: Canadian 4wd travellers about their 5-day trip Vladivostok – Yakutsk. They plan to made it to Magadan

We had keeping in touch with Ian since 2010, when he was planning the Siberian road trip. He said that they would drive to Magadan via the Kolyma road and get back to Yakutsk and further to Mongolia.

Ian did really really about the road condition. In the middle of June, it was pretty rainy, indeed.

Richard, in his turn, said that after the Yakutsk – Magadan run completed he would leave guys and fly back to Beijing, where he worked at that moment, and he would be replaced by Kim’s husband Henry Howard, who should be on the other end of the Road of Bones in Magadan waiting for them.

Henry Howard happened to write to me before coming to Russia as well. I remembered him as a guy with Blackberry. In his message, he asked me, if Blackberry would work in Russia’s Far East. Yep, I said, but the Canada-produced smartphone would work good with a MTS sim card. MTS is one of three major Russian mobile operators.

Henry, indeed, came to Magadan, but a few days before his wife Kim with brother Ian and fellow Richard’s arrival. So, he spent three days in Magadan. You might see what he did while being in the city established in 1937.

Henry’s thoughts about the travel b/w Magadan – Yakutsk

“The Kolyma mountains are different mountains from any mountains I’ve ever seen. They are a beautiful and huge landscape. It’s unclear to me how they were formed, as they don’t appear to be folded rock, like I am used to seeing. I try to explain Siberia to friends and co-workers and clients, but it’s impossible to describe. You have to see it to believe it.”

“I think a lot of people drive the Kolyma Highway because it’s cool to drive a tough road. The road is fun, and it’s the place (and the people) that make it so interesting. I loved the cafes; every bowl of borsch was different, and they were all excellent. The billions of white butterflies in mid June around Yakutsk were amazing. I have never seen so many in my life. It was weird to see only one type of tree over 2m tall for 1500 kms from Magadan to Aldan. But then, how does anything grow tall in those rocks? I had expected Kolyma to be more like northern Canada at 60 – 65 latitude, but it isn’t. Except that both places have endless gravel roads.”

“You live in a wild and scenic place.”

Henry is really a GOOD hobby photographer! See his photo story about the Kolyma road trip in June. Click images to enlarge and see captions.

Magadan, Russia, June 15 – 17, 2011

Magadan – Yakutsk, June 18 – 23, 2011

They started the journey from Magadan to Yakutsk on June 18 and completed on June 23.

THANK YOU, RICHARD, FOR YOUR AMAZING PHOTOGRAPHS AND FEEDBACK!

This is really cool to help international travellers with their trips across Yakutia. In March 2012 in Yakutsk, I met three nice Westerners, Austrian Brigitte and the Swiss couple Susan and Peter, who were invited to the Russian region of Republic Sakha-Yakutia by my friend Alexander Permyakov‘s Russian Expedition Club. Extremely nice people!

They planned to go to Verkhoyansk, one of the coldest inhabited places in North-East Yakutia, and they eventually made it there. I resolved for them just a few issues with a vehicle and drivers. Saying a lot of thanks to Slava Mestnikov for an urgent assistance.

Their route was Yakutsk – Khandyga – Teply Klyuch – Topolinoe (reindeer herder community) – Stalin’s Gulags – Batagai – Verkhoyask. As you know, the part Khandyga – Teply Klyuch is located on the Road of Bones, officially known as the Kolyma federal road.

No more words from me. Let’s continue to traveller’s road trip witnesses and photos. Yes, photos. 50+ images of the long journey from Yakutsk to Verkhoyansk.

A WINTER ROAD TRIP TO VERKHOYANSK, RUSSIA

Brigitte, Susan and Peter’s Travel Report:

When we told our plan to visit Yakutia, people first did not have the vaguest idea where this could be and when they heard it was in Siberia generally showed little understanding for this plan. In middle Europe this region is mostly perceived as a forbidding landscape, being extremely cold and hostile with nothing to see or to do besides maybe fishing and hunting.”

But also we ourselves had no clear picture what to expect. It was a hard-earned trip, not easily at all organised from the distance and following the tempting call of “Yakutia extreme” we imagined something adventurous, exotic and maybe even dangerous.

Approaching Yakutsk in plane our first impression could be called somehow exotic, when everybody except us – being well-drilled European air passengers and accustomed to supposedly security-based oppression – was talking on their mobile phones during landing.

The next literally breathtaking experience was the inhalation of – 38 degree cold air.

So much for extreme experiences.

Though facing extraordinary environmental conditions Yakutsk presented itself as a quite “normal”, friendly and welcoming city with various cultural and social offers and a pleasant place to stay for some days. But it was not the city we came for; we wanted to hit the road to the north – out into the wild.

The wild turned out to be mild and gentle towards us and we did not have to struggle with any adversities of nature and/or the road. On the contrary we immersed into a kind of winter fairy tale. The cold was not breathtaking any more, but felt pleasant. The sun kept shining every day from a perfectly blue sky, producing surreal long shadows. The light and the colours seemed to be from outside of this world.

The brilliant white and dry snow felt like washing powder and could not be used for building snowmen; instead it formed little snowballs in the branches and twigs which gave the impression of endless cotton fields. Shamanistic symbols and offertory places on the way added to these extraordinary charms.

The snow also graciously covered less charming aspects like rubbish along the road and omnipresent rusty metal parts. In contrast around coal-fired power plants the snow – and everything else – turned dark like in mourning, thus exceptionally matching with negative prejudices.

We got to know some of the pitfalls of the winter road, but overall it was much less adventurous than described in various travel reports. After all it is a frequented and quite well maintained road, even though admittedly a case for experienced drivers.

We had the chance to meet all kind of people – not all of them being super nice, but none being really nasty – and to experience cordial hospitality. Amongst many hospitable people we particularly like to remember the team of the meteorological station Iaema.

Even the station itself is remarkable and somehow fallen out of time not only for having its own time zone, but also for still using the Morse system for data transfer and communication with the outside world.

Contrary to popular perceptions the huge and vast landscape is varied and scenic, offering surprising new views around each curve. But amidst this lovely scenery also horror lurks around. Numerous well preserved Gulag camps with still intact watch towers and barbed wire line the road and according to local belief the spirits of the many killed still haunt the region.

Recapitulatory looking back it was neither really adventurous nor exotic or dangerous but

a wonderful and varied experience, that brought us quite close to landscape and people.

“Yakutia extreme” applies to the environment, not the trip and observing how people cope with this extreme environment made us reflect on our own way of living, as well.

We will try to make the sceptical people around us understand that Yakutia is definitely worth a visit.

Saying TONS of “thank you” to Brigitte, Susan and Peter for such a great travel feedback!

This is my question. Just really wonder, who will be those lucky guys to experience motorcycle adventure through Siberia and the Road of Bones in Yakutia to Magadan.

Meanwhile, watch the above video, browse through tons of advices in posts tagged under Road of Bones, and check the new weblog AskMagadan.com.

The featured amazing trip was done by an Austrian fellow Hansjörg Xdream Franz. Unfortunately, I don’t know his website yet, but I’ll ask him.

Last summer, Hansjorg was here with a Harley Davidson rider Doug Wothke.

Doug Wothke and Hansjörg Xdream Franz in Yakutsk, Siberia / Russia.

With some other brave guys.

See other photos in the post Photos: Motorbikers are getting ready for breaking through the old route of the Kolyma Highway (Road of Bones), Siberia / Russia.

Andrey I is a prominent Russian film maker. He is the man, who helped a lot to clean Shergin’s Shaft, the world’s deepest permafrosted well created in Yakutsk, Russia, a few centuries ago. Here is the related news.

Hereby, Andrey I sent me his own story about his extraordinary descent to the bottom of Yakutsk. Praise god, his text in English.

History background:

1837. After a decade of wearisome work in the permafrost a well of 116 meters depth was dug out. Now it is known as Shergin’s Shaft.

1844. Scientific research began. Shergin’s shaft became the world’s “cradle” of science of cave exploring and permafrost studies.

1942. In unknown circumstances the cable used to descent to the bottom of the shaft breaks off. The shaft remains inaccessible for 67 years.

2009. After a long preparation and the digging the snow cork the entrance of the shaft is opened. The 3rd of November is set as the day of storm of the shaft, the attempt of the work in TV format with direct broadcast of the event.

Further, see photographs and a story written by Andrey I himself.

Text: Andrey I.
Photos: Alexey Pavlov.

Here’s Andrey I’s story:

- People seethed around the shed. Algys. Preparation for a short meeting. It was very pleasant to see close friends and acquaintances among people. Yuri Zabolev, Alexandr Solovyev, Alexandr Pakhomov, Yelena Golomareva, Pavel Kazaryan, my son Fedia with my Korean family, and of course Lyudmila Tsoy, the main organizer of the expedition.

Together with Andrey Vysokikh we entered the shed. He brought a light beacon – a light-emitting diode disc which, as he said, would help us to orient during the descent. Trying not to obstruct the preparation of this crazy decision, we squeezed in the square of the well. Andrey threw the beacon down. It dissolved somewhere in the dark.

Algys is completed, but not by the first guest. Before this it was refused several times –the entrance to the lower world should not be opened.

Together with Jenya Zolkin and Marina Kalina, we dressed in orange overalls in the bus of the republic Rescue service; put extra batteries for lantern, cameras and photo cameras into the pockets.

A couple of key words in front of the people gathered. Don’t want to talk. Just hurrying to descent, it’s always cozier under the ground (later I couldn’t help hiccupping). At last we are sent to the narrow, but official world of overalls of the Yakut rescuers, hung ropes and friendly smiles.

Zolkin was the first to go down. I was watching his face. As always, no worries could be noticed. His red “storm” overalls stood out in a bright spot among… was about to say a dozen of people “fussing” around it.

Of course, for an uninitiated person, the endless movement of arms inside a cocoon of ropes that twisted Zolkin looked like an unusual ant crowd. But having a certain experience in cave exploration, I understood better than others how professionally everything was being done.

It should be mentioned that practically there were no uninitiated people around. The inner space of the cottage that covered the entrance of the shaft was only a few square meters. That’s why it was difficult to fit the necessary equipments and group of people providing the descent inside it. From plenty of wishes boiling inside me the prevailing one was that all people who had come to watch the advertised show and were now looking forward to its start in the November frost could see that unique work.

Why it was necessary to have so many rescuers above? Two persons – Zolkin and I, were to go down to the bottom of the shaft – 116 meters deep (to understand its scale, it’s the total size of more than three nine-floor houses put on each other). It was planned that Marina Kailinina would descent for only 30 meters. We were to move in the following order: …. Each participant of the descent has two ropes: the basic and safety. This means that all in all there will be six ropes dangling in the shaft. And they must not get entangled! Everyone that holds one of these ropes, should … feel it, weaken it in time, and stop its etching downwards if necessary. Behind their backs other experts – rescuers, also carry out a very important function – it is important to watch that the ropes that unwind during the descent or gather into a bay during the ascent don’t get entangled. In fact everything is much more difficult.

Fedor secures Zolkin, Valery secures Kalinina, Andrey secures me. Together with Andrey, just like with Zolkin, we have gone to not one expedition.

Zolkin went down.

It’s my turn now. I remembered the way I looked at Zolkin, and artistically assumed a dignified air myself. More “like a showman” to be exact. That’s a special condition when it is necessary to pull yourself together in a certain way. On the one hand you should remain who you are, and on the other hand you should turn into an all-seeing 360 degree eye which sees you from aside as well. The eye should not only see but also it should make comments. There is one feature in the style of “life” program leader. When you say a sentence about what’s happening on the screen, you should already formulate the next sentence and plan variants of the following comments though at that moment you don’t know yet what will happen next.

The carbines clicked on my safety system, and I felt cold breath from the square embrasure of the well. There I heard Zolkin’s message that said that he had stopped in the 20th meter and was waiting for me to move down.

I checked the lighting device for a small finger-type camera which I was hanging in my right hand. On the way down this will be the main camera to illustrate our movements to the bottom of the shaft for the spectators that have gathered above, in front of a plasma screen. The screen is hidden from frost in the salon of a bus in a funny way. The flashes of reporters’ cameras began working. They disturb a lot when you need to pull yourself together during the very culmination moment and define the general degree of readiness of all system that you consist of – “cave explorer – TV presenter – operator.”

Continuing to work “with face” I tried at least for a second absolutely distract from the happening – there won’t be another second. In this situation I usually close my eyes and automatically try to work out any emergency situation, but now I did not have such opportunity. In our case the situation was complicated by the fact that we had not train this program of descent. The most important thing was not to disturb one another in the shaft. I was hardly concerned about how I would film it – I completely relied on the muscular memory gained by experience.

Journalists would frequently peer through the door. It very much looked like a preparation of cosmonauts before the flight. The hands of professionals check on you the strength of the belt, the conditions of knots, and the safety of closing of carbines…

“The main danger is the walls and two rusty metal cables going down just to the center of the shaft… I am hanging near one wall and Jenya is hanging near the other. His rope should not disturb me. In case of inevitable rotation round the axis we should never forget – it is forbidden to touch walls and the cables!”

It’s stupid to ask me if I was worrying. I always worry. Fear helps in extreme situations very much – it mobilizes attention. At last I felt Karpovich’s clap on my shoulder, and trying not to get lost in ropes I clumsily climbed over the protection (the oxygen cylinder suspended from below especially prevented the movements). I put my feet on the walls of the shaft and moved down. After some seconds I was already hanging among the roughly cut tunnel of dirty-yellow ice. Karpovich one again made sure that everything was right and my body together with the oxygen cylinder slowly slid down.

Now I was going through the dug ice cork that used to keep the Shergin’s shaft isolated from the outer world for about three decades. I wanted to go down as soon as possible, the place where everything remained as it was made with human hands in the first half of the 19th century. The ice cork filled the upper thirty meters of the well from the flow of melted water – nobody had taken care of the shaft during the last years. According to our project a special group of workers – alpinists was making a hole in the cork for about two weeks before the SSSS.

At last I went down the ice walls gnawed with instruments. There were smooth forms with ice stalactites around.

It started!

In any event I endlessly value the first impression. The special value of such feelings is that together with their whole unpredictability they also astonish by the currents of their number. It was just this way here. Even with my experience I was fascinated with the singularity of the surrounding for a second, and pushed the lever of the trigger device with my thumb of the left hand harder than it was necessary. As a result I fell down uncontrollably for a couple of meters. That made me sober. I went another ten meters and stopped. I had to wait for Kalinina.

I fixed the trigger device and started to study the surrounding world. I was surrounded by four walls of the wooden well felling. It was evident that the wood had survived wonderfully. It was difficult not to notice two rusty cables as very unpleasant neighborhood in the distance of a stretched hand. Timbered walls together with the cables (and the two ropes of Zolkin) were going down to the darkness, where in about twenty meters the lanterns were flickering on Jenya’s helmet.

The scientific supervisors of the expedition Rudolph Chjan and Lev Li asked him to take some soil and wood test all along the shaft. Evidently that was what he was doing at the moment. In such cases I feel jealous to my friends – they can act “as in real life.” And I have to film it “as in real life.”

We could hear voices quite above us. I looked up. The usual world was already left in the previous life. The opening in the ice stopper through which I had entered the new reality now seemed not so large. It was bordered by ice flows and stalactites. The dense yellow color of the ice added them extra singularity. I lit this beauty by a “chandelier” of three lamps fixed on the helmet. The additional lantern that was connected with the “finger camera” into one set created a game of light in my right hand. I was filming while illuminating the space.

I made a few versions of comments of the happening saying the text to the same “finger camera,” and let myself look around in admiration to analyze the possible development of events – Kalinina was not seen yet.

Admiring the beauty a cave explorer must model possible dangers.

Now the threat number one for Zolkin (he could not see the threat from the depth and it was difficult for him to orient in case of something) were the ice stalactites. If Kalinina breaks one of them by mistake – Jenya will become a target for ice blocks of about 30kg. Cables were threat number two. Their outer side had turned to dust, and only God knows what was inside. Just break one of them in about my level, and it could cut Zolkin while falling down.

I looked down. Light rays of Jenya’s lantern kept moving. He confirmed with his shout that was gathering tests from wooden walls.

Above, among the stalactites, Kalinina suddenly appeared and stopped… in the most inappropriate place.

It is necessary to make a small retreat here. Marina Kalinina (besides directory talents) is a top-quality operator. But she didn’t have a slightest experience in cave exploration. However, during the SSSS we needed a second operator to film me and Zolkin from above. That’s why it was decided to lower marina for 30 meters after training and instructing. But in such an unpredictable descent even endless instructions will never replace experience. That’s why her system of descent and ascent was organized in such a way that it didn’t depend on Marina’s actions. Even if she failed, the rescuers would take her above without her own participation. In such situation I was once again loyal to Karpovich’s and Zolkin’s professionalism. They explained Marina that any person despite the courage and bravery may lose control in an extra extreme situation. During our descent to the Shergin’s shaft it is 50kg of weight that flies down and wipes everything in its way. Marina agreed. She is without any doubt a good fellow. And
she deserved the state of record-holder for participation in the expedition of SSSS. But it was later.

And now, she was slowly rotating on the rope in ten meters above my head between the stalactites and the metal cables. I confess that at some moment I held my breath – it’s not possible to stop the movement grasping the air. “After a second her feet will touch the cables….” But Marina stretched vertically and her feet fell along the cables without touching them. “Now it’s the stalactite’s turn….” It seemed to me that Jenya also was feeling the silence that hang over him. But I had to take my look away from the rotating Marina in order to look down. Marina’s feet flied near the stalactites no less carefully. It became quieter. After some seconds she at last stopped and started to film.

When she was going up I saw in her face such misery that only a real tramp is able to feel.

Jenya and I went down. I was filming and commenting what was happening. But after a while I realized that the image had stopped to broadcast above (besides the two cables a TV cable was also connected to me). I had to stop and change the batteries in the main block of the camera, but in vain. I started to feel uneasy. However, in any case, I was automatically “acting” the role of the TV presenter and operator for certain time.

Now I could concentrate more on getting impressions. However, it seemed that it was the surrounding space that was absorbing you. It was very unusual to move down, down and down constantly in that spot of the earth where any aspiration to the center of the permafrost is connected with unbelievable difficulties. Jenya and I were shouting to each other all the time. Everything was going right.

We passed the boundary of about 50 meters. The wooden support ended. Now the well became wider into a vertical barrel of the roughly cut shaft. I stopped.

Like before, my closes neighbors were two rotten cables which I disliked more and more. But the general atmosphere around became completely different. There were no other attributes of civilization around except the cables. I was swaying on the rope among the roughly dug vertical cave with the diameter of about three meters. This cave was stretching down … “to the lower world,” I admitted to myself.

From 15 meters down Jenya called me to move on. We continued moving.

The surrounding surface of this gulf didn’t seem to be permafrost but it seemed endless. I was eager to find a confirmation of it in the light spots of the lanterns. I remembered Lev Li’s request to mark places where old measuring instruments were set.

In 1844 Russian scientist A.F. Middendorf arrived to Yakutsk. The shaft was used for scientific research under his supervision. Horizontal blast holes of two meters length and thermometers were set in every 15 meters on the walls of the shaft. Nobody had looked for them since that.

Some places looked similar to the description of the blast holes, but no more than that.

“God, how could people come down here in some troughs that were tied to a wooden gate with a cable?”

Before entering the shaft I hang a tablet with detailed scheme of the whole vertical cut of the shaft ob my thigh: sandstone, slate, sandstone, slate… I had forgotten about the tablet. I was on another planet.

Zolkin’s voice interrupted my idyllic amazement. We stopped again. The depth is about 60 meters (two nine-storeyed buildings).

It was time to wear the masks of the oxygen masks. The matter is that just on the eve of the descent a very wise man (alas, I don’t know his name, but he really saved Zolkin and me) expressed an idea of checking the gas structure in the lower part of the shaft trunk. The quick analyze showed that it is not possible to go down this unique well without oxygen equipments. Besides, the deficit of oxygen during the years of civilized life of Yakutsk in the bottom of the shaft there was also harmful gas concentration threatening life.

Now the movement down was accompanied with “grunting” in any breath and “snorting” in any exhalation. However, I had got used to it during the underwater shootings. Remembered the people that once had come down here in troughs. Now they could not succeed in it.

People are made in such way that if something separates his face from the surrounding world, the world immediately becomes different. Unfamiliar. Now I was going down already in the space – cave space, and not in another planet.

I was destruct from lyrics by a piece of wall which was illuminated by the rays of all my lanterns. 73 meters in depth. A flat clod of about one and a half meters had separated from its main mass for some reasons and was hanging weakly. In such situations it’s sensible to act with the principle: “If you are not able to struggle the danger, you better not to think about it.”

I kept on going down, but the above mentioned principle would not work despite all my efforts. My head was itching under the helmet. “Calm down. In this way you may even attract misfortune.”

Now Jenja could not shout me anything in the oxygen mask and I looked down myself. It seemed to me that the light beacon of Andrey Vysokih was already clearly distinguished through Zorkin’s dark round silhouette who was ransacking on the walls by his lantern.

Now I could not take my eyes off that at last approaching dream – off the bottom of the Shergin’s shaft. Despite the oxygen mask which was limiting the view, the pioneer Zolkin was clearly seen. He was standing … in the scatterings of ice splinters.

“This is not the bottom… A part of the chopped ice fell down while the workers were digging the ice cork. There are about two meters to get the real bottom. We’ll try to dig.”

My feet felt support… more exactly its image. The moon. Landing on the space of cave exploration.

My weight plus the weight of the oxygen cylinder made my feet sink till ankles in the porridge of tiny ice splinters near the beacon of Andrey Vysokih. “Speleonaut” Zolkin was standing opposite me. His wide smile was seen through the glass of his oxygen mask.

I am afraid of victories. In that moment of absolute delight we always wait for something … I didn’t finish thinking about it when little stones fell down from above. Zolkin knew it better that me that it was a bad sign – something bigger may follow them.

“This is that very flat clod that had exfoliated in 73 meters!” – hit me in my head.

Zolkin and I stuck to our walls without talking. But instead of the expected blow we heard a typical whistle from above. That’s how a rope or a cable sounds quickly moving in the air.

“Even worse! The iron cable!” Zolkin was thinking the same.

After some seconds something hit my shoulder badly and everything became quiet. Yes, something had torn above, but it was not one of the rusty cables but a telephone cable which was not so massive.

In such a wonderful “relaxation” I had only one thought – to take photos (my camera was not working for a long time already). I took out my checked underwater “Olympus”, pushed the button to switch it on as usual … but nothing happened. My other attempts didn’t change the situation. The fourth attempt coincided with a sound – signal of oxygen cylinder warning that I had only emergency oxygen supply.

“How comes? We didn’t even manage to dig a little. That very historical bottom of Shergin’s shaft is so near, right under us!” but it hit me slowly that this was not the main problem.

Zolkin quietly pronounced in the handheld transceiver: “Evacuation.”

At last I looked above. What I saw was the finishing item of the image of the space surrounding me. The tunnel with rough cut-down walls was stretching up. Then there was darkness from which cables and ropes were hanging. It was difficult to say how far this darkness was. A star was shining in the darkness – this was how the far exit to the common world looked. I wanted to shake my head – what a delusion?

The rope stretched and we started to go up. According to Jenya, he had enough oxygen, and he was going to follow me. I took off my feet from the icy bottom and swam up. I swam up, trying to “grunt” the oxygen more economically. I swam, but I wanted to fly. But you cannot get away from the reality. As the rescuers later told me, they immediately understood that something extraordinary had happened. That’s why everything was mobilized on the fast ascent, maximum fast but without fuss.

During the years of work in extreme situation I have always tried to have everything to depend on me. I am a single worker. But here nothing depended on me. However, even if I had special equipment for independent lifting… even then nothing would have depended on me. Even if I had unfastened the oxygen cylinder I could not, without oxygen, climb up using my muscular strength more than one hundred meters – 37 floors.

It became harder to breath. When brain doesn’t switch off, it starts to intensively work out some key thought. My brain started to count these nonexistent floors, comforting its owner that they are becoming less and less.

It became quite harder to breathe. I had to suck out the oxygen.

“I can catch a lungs squeeze.” I could no more breathe economically – my lungs were exhausted. But the piece of light above still looked like a star.

‘I guess there are around 80 meters left. The oxygen is over.”

My consciousness was struggling with the panic, and was trying to analyze. “If I descant the rest of the oxygen from the cylinder – the lungs squeeze is inevitable, and that’s it. If I tear off the mask, I can get poisoned with gases but there is still a chance. I tore off the mask. The lungs as if straightened.

‘I must not lose consciousness. If so, I can touch and tear off the cables.”

The way upwards was strange. My body was working by itself, it was strenuously breathing, though there was little oxygen left, that’s why it was breathing strenuously.

The frost blew. I looked up. In fact it was warmth – smiling Karpovich was looking at me from above,

P.S. I express my deepest respect to the employees of Security Service of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) without whom the expedition to the depth of the permafrost would not take place, or would be over pitifully: Evgeny Vasilyevich Barishev, Valeriy Bogomolov, Fedor Okhlopkov, Andrey Karpovich, Evgeny Zolkin,Yuri Fedorov, Alexey Sudinov, Dmitry Urgin, Roman Krutihin, Dmitry Krasnyh, Roman Vasilyev.

I know three good websites selling air tickets for flights within the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Russia’s Far East.

One of them belongs to the agency called GAVS (a short name for Glavnoe Agentstvo Vozduzhnyh Soobshenij). Two other online shops to local air companies, Yakutia Airlines and Polar Airlines, that conduct regular regional flights.

Links to air ticket online shops:

www.travelshop.yakutia.ru
GAVS Air Ticket Agency Website. In Russian only.

The payment system accepts all major credit/debit cards issued by Russian and international banks. I use this website mainly to check all air carriers’ flights schedule. Actually, you can use it to purchase tickets for all Yakutia-related flights provided by different air companies.

www.ticketshop.yakutia.ru
Yakutia Airlines Ticket Shop. Available in English as well.

Yakutia Airlines is the biggest air company in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). It conducts international, national and regional flights. A year ago website users reported that the payment system didn’t work with cards issued by abroad banks. Currently, it seems to be okey. Regular the company provides discounts. Air tickets might be also booked and purchased directly from the front page of its official website www.yakutia.aero.

www.flyshop.yakutia.ru
Polar Airlines Air Tickets Online Shop. In Russian only.

Polar Airlines is the second air company based in Yakutsk, Russia. It operates domestic (regional) flights to all major settlements in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). The company has a separate online service for ticket sales. The official website PolarAir.ru does not provide online booking.

As you noted, all three websites are hosted as subdomains to Yakutia.ru that belongs to YakutAvia LLC. This is a Yakutsk-based IT company that services local airlines. So, if you forgot above-listed URLs, you might visit Yakutia.ru directly and see banners of all mentioned websites on the front page.

Have high safe flights, friends!

Note: Majority of last questions is related to what I have already written and posted on this blog. My reply preparation work is mostly about finding related posts and giving links to them in email answers. It might be one of reasons I don’t update AskYakutia.com often. So… what do I want to say? Feel free to use the search box on the left sidebar freely. That’s what I do…

The above note is not related to a question received from Singapore:

Hi,

Im from Singapore and I’m visiting Russia this summer.

I was told that Yakutsk is a city of a strict passport control and to visit this city, I am supposed to have an invitation issued by local migration authorities. Can I check if this is true and it’s necessary for me to get the invitation? I am actually intending to stay with a friend and Im flying in to Yakutsk from Ulan Ude.

As i am currently trying to prepare to get my visa, do i need to include this invitation from Yakutsk before i can apply for the Russia visa?

Thanks.

My answer is right after the link:

Indeed, local migration service does love to check foreigners for available correct Russian visa.

As I see, the mentioned visit purpose is private. You are going to stay at a private place, it means you must have a private Russian visa, where the purpose will say “гостевая” (guest/private). This visa might be issued on basis of the invitation issued by a local migration service at the request of your inviting person.

Just ask a local friend to not be too afraid and apply for a Russian guest invitation.

You can have also another option. It is a tourist visa, but in this case you would need to purchase a tour from a travel company or stay in a hotel. The visa is issued pretty fast.

Here in Yakutsk, one travel company www.planetyakutia.com can issue such invitation (in the form of travel voucher & confirmation). Ask your friend to address this mentioned company as well. In Russian it is called NTK “Yakutia”.

Actually, if you see a travel company that offers tours to Yakutia, you can get a tourist visa support from that company.

Just be adviced that your visit to Russia must correspond to its real purpose.

Further, please, find the list of distances between Yakutsk and major towns in the Republic of Sakha-Yakutia, Siberia, Russia.

Road distances are based on the data of the last Yakutia road atlas edition. As of 2009.

Belaya Gora (settlement) = 1748 km
Aldan (town) = 534 km
Chokurdakh (settlement) = 2141 km
Amga (village) = 198 km
Saskylakh (village) = 2621 km
Tiksi (sea port) = 1694 km
Verkhnevilyuysk (village) = 662 km
Zyryanka (settlement) = 1592 km
Batagai (settlement) = 1376 km
Vilyuysk (town) = 581 km
Berdigestyakh (village) = 186 km
Zhigansk (village) = 1096 km
Sangar (settlement) = 527 km
Lensk (town) = 1384 / 1040 km
Maya (village) = 52 km
Mirny (city) = 1184 km
Honuu (village) = 1341 km
Namzy (village) = 84 km
Nerungri (city) = 809 km
Chersky (settlement) = 2608 km
Nurba (town) = 796 km
Ust Nera (settlement) = 1018 km
Olekminsk (town) = 618 km
Olenek (village) = 2026 km
Srednekolymsk (town) = 1951 km, though truckers say it’s actually 2100 km
Suntar (village) = 964 km
Ytyk Kyuel (village) = 256 km
Khandyga (settlement) = 432 km
Borogonzy (village) = 127 km
Ust Maya (settlement) = 379 km
Deputatsky (settlement) = 1991 km
Pokrovsk (town) = 74 km
Churapcha (village) = 177 km
Batagai Alyta = 1666 km

Hope that will help international drivers and adventurers.

One of the most frequently asked question in regards to the Republic of Sakha-Yakutia, that occupies 1/3 of Russia and 1/2 of Siberia + the Far East, is, of course, “Where online to download region maps?”

Always in my reply, I sent links that I could recall at once. Praise god, there is the list now.

Recently, Artem Petukhov, a friend of mine, who runs his local Adventure Club blog in Russian, has compiled the list of maps available online for free download.

If you are an active traveller – motorcyclist, 4wd driver, mountain trekker, hiker, whatever, you might wish to check out the following maps:

1. Geodesic bitmapped maps.

2. Industrial maps in West Yakutia.

3. Moto roads maps.

4. Detailed maps of cities and districts.

5. Digital (GPS) maps for Navitel / Navitel Navigator. The link to the zip file. Yakutsk, districts: Megino-Kangalassky, Khangalassky, Kobyaysky, Lensky, Namsky, Mirninsky, Vilyuysky, Neryungrinsky)

Artem recommends also to use the SAS.Planet soft.

If you consider the listed maps are useful, please, share this info with your friends. Thanks!

Oh, by the way, don’t forget to browse through previously published posts under the tag Maps.

I have receieved a request from the Netherlands, but, unfortunately, the author mentioned incorrect email address, so I post an answer here on the blog.

His question was:

What are the exact dates of the Ysyakh festival in 2012 and 2013?

The answer:

In the city of Yaktusk, Ysyakh takes place annually during the last weekend of June. So, this year it must be on June 30th and July 1st.

What is Ysyakh? It is the Sakha people’s major national holiday. To get an idea, slide through my photographs above.

In the previous post I wrote that I had returned from 5-day travel with reindeer herders in Oymyakon, one of the coldest places in the Republic of Sakha-Yakutia, Siberia, Russia.

When we were heading back to Yakutsk through the Road of Bones (officially known as Kolyma Highway), the temperature was somewhere under minus 40 degrees Celsius. Cold weather as usual.

We were driving on a Nissan Patrol 4wd vehicle without any long stops. On our way back – around 1000 km – we spent 16 hours only. Fast. It means the road appeared to be in good condition.

Clean. Partly icy, but covered with sand by road workers. As you know, the Kolyma Highway (including the route through Ust Nera) is considered to be a federal road. So even in the nowhere of Russsian Siberia, roads with such statuses might be maintained all around the year in pretty well manner.

So, if you’re going to Magadan from my city in winter, remember one of my travel advices.

Tip: Reserve one of your travel expedition stickers for a gas station in Kyubyume to attach on the right side of the tube from cashier’s window. It’s a new tradition.

Further, see more photos taken during a few short stops. They were done on February 24th, 2012.

Below are photographs taken on the way from Yakutsk to Kyubyume on February 20th.

We were driving fast, so, unfortunately, I didn’t manage to take pictures as many as previously in 2010.

By the way, you might wish to learn more about my recent experience of Reindeer Sledding with Siberian herders in Oymyakon, Siberia, Russia.

If you follow me on Facebook and Twitter, you might already know and see photographs of my recent Oymyakon travel to Even reindeer herders, whom I and my friends experienced fascinating winter reindeer sledding through snowy rivers, mountains and hills with.

Hereby I am posting more photgoraphs and adding more journey details. I’ll post info part by part in this post, as I have a lot to say in fact. Meanwhile, enjoy 200+ pictures.

Travel dates: February 20 – 24, 2012.
Area: Somewhere near in-betweens Kyubyume and Uchugei in Oymyakon region, Yakutia, Siberia/Russia.

Day 1: On the way to Oymyakon region
Yakutsk – Khandyga – Reindeer herders’ winter base in Oymyakon area.
Driving time: 16 hours.

Day 2: Catching and preparing reindeer for the long-distance journey

In the video Kesha was catching 25 reindeer in order to make a caravan for 5 travelers. Amazing! Hard work actually!

Before catching it was neccessary to find reindeer in mountains, gather them and bring to a winter base. We were lucky. It took 7 hours to do everything. Animals were roaming not so far. See photos and read my captions.

Day 3: The first day of reindeer sledding

The above video was done, when we arrived to one of reindeer herders’ winter camp by the evening. The sun was about to set.

Day 4: The second day of reindeer sledding. Back to the base.

The video was done during the second day of our winter trip through valleys and hills of Oymyakon, Republic of Sakha-Yakutia, Siberia / Russia. It was almost the evening, when outdoor temperature dropped much below -40C.

Day 5: The Road of Bones, the way back to Yakutsk

Videos was done by Yuri Berezhnov and provided by Yegor Makarov.

PS. I’ll add description almost to all photographs. Keep tuned, please.

From Yakutia through Magadan Oblast to Chukotka

Chukotka Expedition Vehicles

This week famous Russian blogers, photographers and designers, embarked the winter off-road expedition from South Yakutia (Nerungri) to Chukotka (Mys Shmidta).

On March 07 they were already in Yakutsk. In two days in Oymyakon. Yesterday in Ust Nera. Currently, they are heading to Magadan on their pretty glamour 4wd vehicles.

You can read their random travel reports on their online resources, for instance, Sergey Dolya Blog and Artemy Lebedev Blog.

You might wish to follow these twitpeeps: @dolyasergey, @nub1an, and @frederick_taer.

This is just my way to announce that La Lupe Production’s TV Show “Climas Extremos” are now available on Spanish TV. Follow La Lupe Production Channel on Vimeo to learn schedules.

Yeah, it were them, Mario Picaso Soriano (left in the above pic) and Oriol (right), who created the Climate Extremes showing people’s live in extreme weather conditions. The first episode is dedicated to Oymyakon located in Yakutsk. Two years ago I helped them with the travel to Oymyakon. In this photo, they are in Yakutsk right after their arrival in Yakutsk.

Cool! So glad that they managed to complete all documentary episodes. Recommend to watch them all.

Con Mario Picazo viajaremos hasta Oymyakon, en la República de Saja, Siberia. Es el pueblo mas frío del mundo. Aquí el termómetro ha registrado la temperatura mas baja en un lugar poblado: 71, 2 grados bajo cero.

Durante los meses de invierno la temperatura mínima ronda los 50 grados bajo cero. Oymyakon es el pueblo más frío por varias razones. Su continentalidad, su elevada latitud, su altitud de unos 700 metros y su posición geográfica en el fondo de un valle entre montañas. Factores fundamentales para que al aire se enfríe más que en ninguna otra población del mundo.

Seremos los primeros españoles en visitar este pueblo. De la mano del simpático guía e intérprete Serguei y hospedado en casa de la entrañable Tamara, Mario estará varios días en el pueblo pescando, buscando hielo, bañándose en el río, experimentando una sauna rusa, bailando en la discoteca con las mozas, cabalgando a lomos de un buey de 700 kg llamado Miguel,…Mario sufrirá el frío más extremo que se pueda experimentar, pero lo compensará con muchos chupitos de vodka.

My favourite local band is “103.” It is a group of villages, who perform rock in the Sakha language. And I thought why not make a slideoshow with my winter pictures of the Kolyma Highway (Stalin’s Road of Bones) and their music. Take a look at what I came with.

By the way, when I and my friends started the travel (driving) on the Road of Bones on the route Oymyakon – Yakutsk in January, it was -57.3C. Pretty extremely cold. No wonder that the road is considered to be the world’s coldest road.

As far as you know, the Kolyma Highway connects Yakutsk and Magadan. The most of it was constructed by Stalin’s gulag prisoners. Yeah, it is in Siberia, Russia.

You might see my Oymyakon travel pictures on one of my pages.

Hope you like the music performed by 103. More about them you can learn on my other blog, eYakutia.com.