Marat Zalyalov, a local mountain cyclist, gave quick tips to an Italian biker Dan, who had written to me as follows:
“Your site is really useful, but I didn’t find anything about cycling… So hope you could help me… I’m used to travel by bicycle in hard conditions, and your country looks amazing… Questions: what do I must focus on? Dangers and problems? Any suggestion?.. I am planning to cycle the Kolyma Highway [the Road Bones] this summer. Thanks in advance.”
Yeah, that’s true. I didn’t write much about cycling opportunities in Yakutia. The last post was “Video & Photos: Winter cycling on the Road of Bones.” I have many local friends of mine, who are big fans of long distance cycling. I asked them very often. I was really annoying repeating “Give me your tips. Give me your tips.” Praise god, Dan’s request was a good reason to torture Marat once again, and finally he did. He dedicated some of his precious time [ :) ] for sharing with quick tips in English. Read more…
It is February 11th, 2010. I am sitting in Magadan and have time to reflect on my journey so far. It is GMT+11 here, which means I have travelled pretty much halfway around the World. And all without taking a single flight so far. Unfortunately I have to break the ‘rules’ and take a flight to Kamchatka, as there really is no other practical way to reach that place. I left the UK nearly 4 months ago, and have been in Russia for two months exactly today.
Matt in Oymyakon at -54C
So 8 days ago I left the city of Yakutsk in the classic Russian ‘Uaz’ (see the photos- they’re like a VW camper with bigger wheels, and they’re everywhere in Russia, but especially in the east). They’re generally old, and look like they’re on their last legs, but I guess they’re hardy steeds, and seem to be the first choice for people around here. Read more…
As far as you know, I decided to organize a road trip to Oymyakon, the Pole of Cold, from Jan. 17 till Jan. 21 for my friends. Today we, trip participants, gathered and had lunch in Yakutsk at the Chicago Bar.
There were alll of those mentioned in travellers list, including a German photographer Bjorn Steinz and a US student Tilden Smith. Bjorn arrived yesterday by plane from Vladivostok. Tilden came this morning by a car from Nerungri.
A very good news. I will go with my friends. By the last minute I wasn’t sure, whether I will go. There were a lot of works to be done. Read more…
Amazing! I received questions from an American lady, whose given name is Summer. It’s like “Hello from summer to winter.” She was asking:
I found some amazing stories about people who were there lately as tourists and I was wondering: Somebody on a web site who was there suggested highly the North Face Himalayan suit and couldn’t recommend it enough. But I read a few other things about how high tech parkas just don’t compare to reindeer skins etc…. What would you suggest about how to dress/what to bring if I ever decide to go there? And also any other tips for being outside in the middle of winter?
Read more…
UAZ is the best Pole of Cold Shuttle
A Jordi, of Catalonia, is asking:
I have been reading the last report about Norwegians’ accident [in Yakutia/Siberia], and I want to ask you something… Is this a recent story? I haven’t found the piece of news relating to this.
Nowadays I know some people who want to make the journey to Oymyakon [the coldest place in Yakutia and the whole Siberia], only as a wish, without nothing to take it seriously. I’ve been reading different articles, and AskYakutia’s reports and I think it is not a thing for not taking it seriously. It’s very funny to see -60ºC, but another thing is to go for them.
What do you thing about this journey? It is a little dangerous, isn’t it?
My answer was as follows: Read more…
A few weeks ago I received a question from an UK backpacker, who is coming to Yakutia in January 2010. He asked “Is there an ice road to the Lena Pillars? Is it possible to make it there in January?”
Btw, a request was sent via the Facebook group “Ask-Yakutia-Today,” everyone is welcome to join us.
Frankly saying, the Lena Pillars (located a few hundreds kilometres south off Yakutsk) is visited in winter less than in summer. The main reason is the ice road that was asked about. Read more…
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…
Yeah, it’s cold, but not so cold as it can be. Waiting for -50ºC.
See more my pics. Some of them are not sharp. My camera got frozen in a moment. The lens were so slow to focus. Read more…
The Copenhagen Summit made climate changes topical in news. Interesting, but Yakutsk and I felt this fever as well. A couple weeks ago five western journalists arrived in Yakutsk to make reportages about the affects of global warming in Yakutsk. In the summer I helped two photographers Mathias Braschler & Monika Fischer, who searched persons with tumbledown houses for portraits to show in Copenhagen, and Jonathan Watts, a Beijin-based The Guardian correspondent.
Recently I have received similar requests from western journalists. The last one was from the Swedish Aftonbladet newspaper reporter. He asked the following questions and got my replies. Read more…
In the beginning of November 2009, I wrote the post “Descending into the world’s deepest shaft in the permafrost zone.” In a few days after I received a message with a lot of questions from a Hungarian scientists Adam Soereg.
He wrote “Data from Yakutsk is extremely important, because this is the longest dataset in the Eastern Siberian region, longer than any series in the United States. Yakutsk shows an abnormally high rate of warming since the early 19th century, but what if the official values used by large agencies between 1829 and 1854 are 1.9°c lower than reality?”
Read more…
