Hi! My name is Bolot. I am a journalist. Based in Yakutsk. Ask me a question about the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Siberia / Russia, and get the answer.
I am often asked about possibilities to travel to Oymyakon, the so-called Pole of Cold, from Yakutsk in the winter. Some requests sound like, “Can you arrange the tour to Oymyakon?” and some of such message authors even started promising me free beer… My god, I am not a travel company and, certainly, I do not do someone’s work for beer, but I know how to make DIY-trips from Yakutsk to Oymyakon, one of the world’s coldest place.
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I see that the world is pretty much interested in people’s life in the Siberian coldest places such as Oymyakon (Ojmjakon) and Verkhoyansk (Verkhojansk)… and an idea arrived…
I have friends who live in Oymyakon and Verkhoyansk. Both villages compete for the title “The world’s coldest inhabited place.” In Yakutia locals do not pay much attention to where it is much colder, because everywhere it is cold, extremely cold. Even Yakutsk is currently experiencing -47C.
Well… If you wish, you can leave your questions about life in the cold condition and I will ask all of them to my friends in Oymyakon and Verkhoyansk.
Well, it seems Oymyakon is currently a very hot news story topic in the European media. Last days brought many requests from there and all of them about the way of life in the coldest inhabited place in Siberia’s Yakutia.
The last one arrived from Madrid’s La Razon. A Spanish reporter wrote:
It would be also very usefull if you could tell us some aspects about this place:
-¿Do they have train? ¿Why?
-¿Do they have a motorway? ¿Since when?
-How many months winter last there? Is it true it takes nine months?
-Is it true summer is complicated because of thaw?
-What are their most frequent health problems? ¿Because of cold?
-What problems do they find in their daylife because of low temperatures?
Frankly saying, all answers to the above questions are already written on the blog AskYakutia.com, i.e. in posts tagged as Oymyakon and the Pole of Cold. To find them will take time for sure. Of course, it’s easier and faster to ask than to search required info on the resource. Indeed, that’s the philosophy of this website. Well, if I received a request, I need to answer.
I decided to make a post with listed questions about Oymyakon, because I found them frequently asked and, yeah, they are very fascinating.
Western media representatives, please, keep in mind one important thing! Oymyakon is not a part of technology- and communication advanced Europe, Asia or North America. It is located in the very depth of Siberia! People in Oymyakon live their ordinary Siberian village life.
Futher, please, find my answers. Read more…
If you are interested in how winter is progressing in its begining in the Siberian city of Yakutsk, look at mobile photos below.
This is the same view from a kitchen window of my previous rented apartment. By the way, my family moved to another place, when outside temperature was much below -40C/F.
The first picture (above) was taken at midday on Nov. 28, 2010. The temp was -40C. The second photo (below) was done at 9 am on Nov. 30, 2010. Do you see the opposite building? :) Yeah, that’s how foggy it was, when we had -47C.
“What to do in Oymyakon?” is the question I receive pretty often. Usually, I give a short list of possible activities, provide the link to the page with the description of our last winter’s Journey to the Pole of Cold and with a lot of photographs disclosing what we did in Oymyakon.
Frankly saying, when we were on the way – on the Road of Bones – to Oymyakon, we didn’t have any structured plan of our visit to the coldest Siberian place. Our mission was simple. We wanted to (1) have fun, (2) enjoy the cold weather and (3) take winter pictures as many as possible. That’s it.
The itinerary was flexible and customizable, as our trip was in the Do-It-Yourself format. We had got independence with our rented UAZ minibus and democracy. It worked like this. When an idea or an offer arrived, we just made that idea public, thought over it and made a final decision. Usually, such discussions happened in the evening. Sometimes just on the go.
We tried to put all outdoor activities in the short daytime frame, i.e. from 8|9 am till 3 pm, as we wanted to take good photographs.
I hear this question very often. Frankly saying, it was that show, that forced me to upload winter photographs of the Road of Bones (officially known as the Kolyma Highway) built by GULAG work camp inmates in the time of Stalin.
Well, if anyone is interested in the winter Road of Bones condition. Here we go. Further, please, find 45 pictures taken the last winter by me. Read more…
Vaselisa Popova, my new contact in Verkhoyansk, Yakutis, Siberia.
Good news to all travelers, who are interested in Sangar (the Kobyajsky region) and Verkhoyansk. I visited the 2010 Sakha Travel Exhibition held at Polar Hotel in Yakutsk on April 9-10, 2010. Finally, I acquainted with travel enthusiasts from those places. You can see them in the photographs.
The Kobyajsky region is famous for its fantastic fishing and rafting near Segyan Kyol as well as its Even nomads‘ settlement of Sebjan Kyol in the Verkhoyansky Range. Read more…
See how frozen carcass reindeer meat will be cut into small pieces. Photos and video were done by Artem Petukhov and Katya Ipatieva (they stand behind the Adventure in Yakutia blog http://adv.yktv.ru, in Russian) specially for eYakutia.com . Thanks, guys.
Yeah, we, Yakutians, love meat. We eat them a lot. To save money, we usually buy them of big sizes, and then we think how to cut them. Praise god, there are people who are ready to help at the cost of 20 bucks for each carcass. Read more…
This road was built by the inmates of Gulag camps, most of them were buried along the way. That’s why it’s named the Road of Bones. 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…
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