http://blogs.waytorussia.net/ Way to Russia Travel Blogs en-us Nucleus CMS v3.40 A© Weblog http://backend.userland.com/rss http://blogs.waytorussia.net//nucleus/nucleus2.gif http://blogs.waytorussia.net/ http://blogs.waytorussia.net//item/167 This is continuation of Part 1: Ekaterinburg – Yakutsk (BAM). The travelers drove all the way from Ekaterinburg through BAM (Baikalo-Amurskaya magistral) to Yakutsk, through the icy and snowy roads where temperatures rarely went higher than minus 34 celcius, and finally reached a bridge to Tynda. The bridge was broken, so they decided to cross over the ice.

Broken bridge in Siberia Russia

"After we passed about 10 kilometers pass Chilcha settlement, we made a 'pit stop' to add some diesel to the main tank from our canisters. Here we realized two things: the special antifreeze gel for diesel got frozen in the canister; the second, and the worst, thing was that the diesel itself in the task got also frozen...

Railway in Russia Siberia BAM
(you can still see the old military outposts on this picture of BAM railway we passed along our way to Yakutsk)

While we've been thinking what to do next, a big Ural lorry with some railway workers appeared on the road. They offered to pull us back to Chilcha to their base, where we could warm up our cars and melt the ice in diesel.That's how we got hosted by the real BAM builders. Using the opportunity to get to a warm nice place we made a dinner:
Dinner with BAM people in SIberia Russia

While our Land Rover Defender was warming up in a huge hangar, I was trying to understand why when the temperature is lower than minus 45 celcius, the heating inside the car fails to work properly. Previous night was quite uncomfortably cold, especially in the morning. It turned out that actually the heating switches off automatically when it's minus 45 because the cold air simply extinguishes the flame. So, using a typically Russian method – drill and hammer – I changed the system, so that the air would be taken in from inside the car. Didn't have problems with heating from then on.

We left our hosts and already in the darkness passed the remaining 200 km to Tynda. After passed the town, we finally reached M-45 motorway "Lena" and stopped for a night break. We started driving again early in the morning and after driving about 80 km from Tynda entered Yakutia.

Yakutia Russia

Land Rovers in Siberia, Russia

Yakutia met us with the most beautiful parhelions in the clear air (another name for this phenomenon in English is "sundogs"):

Parhelions or sundogs in Siberia, Russia

In front we saw Chulman settlment that was covered with a thick layer of smog or mist (which as it turned out was caused by a nearby factory).

Chulman in Yakutia, Siberia, Russia

There's almost no wind in Yakutia during the winter, and the further we advanced into the republic, the better we could see it. Even the lorries are all modified because of that: the exhaust pipe is placed as high as possible. Otherwise, a trace of mist behind the car will be hanging above the road for hours:

Truck in Yakutia

This is Evota mountain, which is 1601 meters high. It's hard to say where is the horizon, where are the clouds, and anything else. It's also actually the highest point of "Lena" motorway – about 1355 meters.

Evota mountain in Yakutia Siberia Russia

Everything around is totally white and it's quite hard to orient yourself – the horizon and clouds mix together. And huge elm trees far away actually turn out to be small bushes 1.5 meters high.

Elm trees elki in Yakutia Siberia Russia




Tommot - Yakutsk - Khadynga

A few kilometers before Tommot (about halfway along "Lena" motorway between Tynda and Yakutsk), the front driver Oleg Mayorov gets into an accident. While he was making a long left turn (which was also going upwards), Oleg noticed a car driving really fast towards him. Magically avoiding a head on collision, he turned to the side, into the deep snow. Nobody was hurt, even no bruises, and the car looked totally ok outside.

Car Accident in Siberia Russia

His Land Rover Defender is lying in a deep snow, almost on the side. We'll have to use winches to pull him out:

Accident with Land Rover Defender in Russia


To be continued...

This travelogue follows the story of Evgeny, who traveled with his friends through Siberia. You can read his other travel stories (in Russian) on his LiveJournal blog. If you want us to translate a specific post, leave a comment here.]]> Travelogues http://blogs.waytorussia.net/index.php?itemid=167 Mon, 29 Dec 2008 01:29:19 +0300 http://blogs.waytorussia.net//item/164
The first one in the series is an epic journey made by Eugen Belayev and co (check out Eugen's blog – it's in Russian, but has lots of pictures). They drove through the whole country from Ekaterinburg through BAM (Baikal-Amur Railway) to Yakutsk (that's in the middle of Siberia) and back to Moscow in winter(!). Here's the first part of their journey.

Driving through Siberia

"Our expedition started in Ekaterinburg, went through BAM railway area, to Yakutsk and back to Moscow. You can't normally get to Yakutsk by car (sane people fly there), but we were up for the challenge. The most interesting part of the journey started when we reached the road that goes along BAM railway

Kalabar mountain range Russia

Almost the whole day we've been driving through Kalabar mountain range. The road goes right next to the cliffs at some point and there are very few villages along the way – almost none.Car in the snow in Siberia

Surprisingly enough, it's actually easier to drive at some parts of the road during the winter. As you can see on the photo above, the road would be quite bad in summer, but in winter because of the snow, it's quite manageable.

A station along BAM railway in Russia

It gets dark early and we arrive to Novaya Chara in total darkness. That's a relatively big settlement with more than 2000 inhabitants. It should be easier to drive from here to Tynda along "Auto"BAM, as we've already passed the "wildest" part of the route.

We asked the locals whether there was a petrol station around – turned out that there's one 20 km away in Chara (another big settlement). We needed diesel, so went to Chara straight away even though it was quite late. The road was surprisingly good – asphalted and cleaned. Chara turned out to be quite interesting. There's an airport with regular flights to Chita, and petrol station is 1km away from it. At the petrol station they tell us that the road to Khani (our next destination) is covered with ice and that it's going to get colder (it's already minus 45 Celsius outside!) It's a pity we haven't got time – Chara has a regional museum and a sand desert with beautiful nature (check out the pics in this guide to Chara in Russian).

Barrels in the night snow ice road in Russia

After Novaya Chara the road gradually turns into an offroad route and after we crossed Khani river, the ice crust that we'd been warned about has started.

Two hours before us a big 157 ZIL lorry has fallen through into the ice crust. The ice crust is a weird thing: seems like it' minus 40, but then an underwater stream doesn't get frozen and continues to flow under ice. You can't see it from the outside until you fall through. And the stream might get frozen at some points, but then the water gets outside, so you get a sort of layered 'pie' made of water and ice. The ice crust gradually increases its height, so that the whole car might fall through.

That's the kind of problem the lorry before us had. The two guys who were inside managed to save the car – chucked out all the load, ten 200-liter barrels with diesel, and somehow managed to drive out of the ice hole. By the way, it was 1 meter deep... Had they waited for half-hour, that would be it: they'd have to wait till spring. When it's minus 45 the car gets frozen in not just quickly, but very quickly....

barrels in siberia stuck in snow

But then they were stuck: you can't carry and load back 2 tonns of diesel in barrels on your own. So we joined in and helped the guys through all the barrels back into the lorry. They tried to ask us how they could thank us, but we refused to accept anything.

Driving through the ice in Siberia

Finally we came to the agreement that they will just drive together with us, to make sure we get through ok. We planned the route, attached our Land Rover with a towrope, and drive along the side of the ice crust. Weirdly enough, even though we checked the depth half hour ago, our cars drove on top of the ice crust just fine. So the whole convoy went through just fine.

Finally, we're reached the road from BAM to Tynda

The bridge through Tazy river was completely broken. So we decided to drive over the ice.

Tazy river broken bridge in Siberia


(to be continued...)

]]> Travelogues http://blogs.waytorussia.net/index.php?itemid=164 Thu, 18 Dec 2008 16:10:57 +0300