As far as you know, there is no bridge over the Lena River at all. Therefore, to cross the river, locals are forced to use ferryboats from June till October and ice roads in winter, officially from the midst of December till early April.
Late April – May and late October – November are considered to be dangerous periods for crossing the river. Nevertheless, some people take the risk and as result we can periodically read news about accidents, precisely about sunken cars and trucks.
It is a must for local drivers to know ice roads requirements, and travelers are recommended to keep them in mind as well. So… Read more…
That’s what I see on my way home in the evening. In the last Friday evening, Dec. 4, 2009, we had -41ºC and fog and no winds. So the frost was almost dry and burning, and my quickly frozen camera was slow to take pictures. Many unfocused shots were just deleted. See the left pics.
That’s a X-mas tree on the Ordzhanikidze Sq. No garlands and decorations yet. We are promised to see its finished beauty on Dec. 9, 2009. Hope it will be so. Read more…
Once I published long-distance taxi rates that can be taken into consideration while traveling within Yakutia. But I’ve never written a post about pecularities of using such a ground transport, precisely about advantages and disadvantages of going from Yakutsk to Magadan via the Road of Bones (Kolyma Highway) by taxi.
UAZ is used as a long distance taxi within Yakutia. Photo provided by Slava Mestnikov.
This time I decided to fill this gap. First, let’s recall the route and list “pros”, then I’ll mention some important things to remember. Read more…
Often asked about the tour to the Pole of Cold, Oymyakon. All the time the question sounds different. Some is interested in transfer rates, others in hotel rates, third persons are just wondering what to do and see in the Pole of Cold. So I decided why not just give away the description of the standard tour to the officially acknowledged coldest Siberian place?!
The Indigirka River, Oymyakon, Siberia/Russia. In some parts it is never frozen, even when the temperature goes below -50C.
The tour description was received from a friend of mine, Semen Baishev, an Oymyakon-based travel enthusiast. Actually it is him, who arranges all the travel program in the Pole of Cold for individual tourists and travel agencies’ groups. Oops, travel agencies might “kill” me for disclosing such an info :) Whatever. So… here we go. Read more…
This is a good question asked by a friend of mine from Fairbanks, Alaska. He is a big fan of photography and off-roading. His Flickr nick is rpiereck. Wonderful pictures he has. So… Frankly saying, it was me who first asked him “How do you prepare your Jeep for the winter in Alaska?” In his reply he gave me the detailed description, afterwards he returned my question back :)
The above picture was taken in Yakutsk on Dec. 11, 2008, when it was much below -50C.
Further, please, find info on how cars are prepared in the world’s cold regions, Alaska and the coolest Siberian region, Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). Read more…
Oh, my God! Oh, my God! Just wondering… Will the blog visitors, who love travelling and free downloading at the same time, be enough grateful for what I am going to do now? Damn, I am really up to let the world download the Kolyma Highway travel map for free. Read more…
Received questions from China. A traveller is thinking over the ways of getting to Yakutsk from Beijing.
I wanna know, whether there is the railway in Yakutsk. I know a place Berkakit railway station. What’s solutions from Beijing to Yakutsk?
A very natural request. Air travel from Beijing to Yakutsk, even via Novosibirsk (I wrote about this option a while ago), can be quite expensive.
Read more…
Rejoyce, everyone, who wishes to try the Road of Bones to/from Magadan. Magadan is not the deadend. It is, actually, one of your enroute waypoints.
The only thing you need to know is how to ship your vehicle from/to Magadan by sea. The second thing to remember is that a Turkish driver Ali Eric (www.istanbul2instanbul.com) is really a good fellow. He sent me the precious information on the shipment from Magadan to Valadivostok (or vice-versa) and from Vlad to anywhere in North America.
Further, please, find the info about the shipping company, that helped Ali Eric and two UK moto adventurers Walter & Tony (www.SibirskyExtreme.com) to deliver their 4wd and motorcycles from Magadan to Vladivostok by sea. Read more…
Frankly saying, this week I thought “Well, on the next Monday we are promised to see the first snowfall in Yakutsk. Winter is really at the hand. It’s time to think about the cold.” Besides, I noted that, according to the latest Google Analytics statistics, Oymyakon, the so-called Pole of Cold, became one of the most popular blog tags. I started expecting winter-related questions and something like “How to drive the icy Kolyma Highway?”
At the end of this month, I thought, there would be no more questions about the current condition of the road from Yakutsk to Magadan, especially when I had already given the answer in the 2009 September Report post… Hehe… I am truly smiling at the moment. What I love in AskYakutia.com is that it keeps providing unexpected occurrences. It is never possible for me to predict the type of the next query. Yesterday I received the following message:
“I don’t know if you remember me. I am a French man, who discussed about the Kolyma map with you some few months ago. I am in Yakutsk now. I came from Paris by car (1 month!) and I want to drive to Magadan by the new road, but I don’t have a 4wd, just an old Ford Fiesta. Is it possible [for me to get to Magadan via Ust-Nera] now?” Read more…
Walter Colebatch, the UK Sibirsky Extreme moto adventure project leader, returned to Yakutia from Baikal. He said good bye to his fellows Tony and Terry, who went back home to England. At that moment, he thought “I still harboured a burning ambition to get to the Arctic Circle in Asia… I just had enough time before the seasons changed to try one more time to get North from Udachny.”
As two months ago, he hit the same route Ust-Kut – Lensk – Mirny – Chernyshevsky – Morkoka – Aikhal – Udachny and finally reached the place just a few kilometers before the Arctic Circle, the place that had stopped him and Tony last time round.
“The river then had been full of water, and rain was falling,” wrote Walter. “Now it was colder, but the sky was half blue. I approached the marker on my GPS that indicated the limit of our travels last time and took a photo. Now it was all dry road. Just 100 metres ahead there was the River … One look told me the river was 3-4 metre wide and at least 1 metre deep. I walked the shallowest part … My arse got cold and wet. That wont work on the bike, especially considering the current as well.”
Further, please, find more of Walter’s travelogue plus the scanned maps of the Anabar Road. Read more…
