Travel to Tomtor in the hearth of Siberia (Yakutia or Sakha or Jakutia, northeast Russia). Pictures of snow and ice from Siberia.

Tomtor day tour
14/01/2007 - 15/01/2007

Tomtor is a small town situated inside the "Pole of the Cold", the world's coldest inhabited place, where the January's average temperature is -50 degrees centigrades. I visit the old gold mine where nice ice sculptures are kept, and an hot spring where most water never freezes.

(Click on a picture to see a larger version)

The small hotel where I've spent the night in Tomtor. Today the temperature is -50 deg. centigrades.




	A stream that never freezes, because of hot springs. The vapour, coming out continuously, freezes instantly over the trees all around, creating very bizzarre shapes.

A frozen tree seen from below.


	This is a gold mine not used anymore. The ice crystals on the wall may requires months or years to grow, before falling down when they become too heavy.


	Ice crystals, or "flowers", several centimeters big.



Ice sculputers kept inside the mine. As the temperature here is about -10 degrees year round, no maintenance is required. In fact, they were built about 5 years ago.

A leaking water pipe.



Tomtor.



PICTURES
	St. Petersburg Three days in St Petersburg are really not enough to appreciate the city and to visit the countless museums, so I have to limit my itinerary only to the Arctic and Antarctic museum, the Hermitage, the Church of Our Savior and the Krassin icebreaker, the ship that has saved the members of Umberto Nobile's expeditions to the North Pole.GO
	Novosibirsk Novosibirsk is the Russia's third biggest city and geographical center, as well as the capital of Siberia. I hike in the city with a temperature going from -10 to -18 deg.centigrades, visiting the Opera theatre (the world's biggest!), the Transiberian railway station and the downtown, where ice sculptors were at work.GO
	Yakutsk Yakutsk is the capital of Yakutia autonomous region and has about 240000 inhabitants. The temperature was frequently around -40 degrees, both C. and F., as the two scales meet at this low value. I hike in the downtown main streets, visiting also the local museum, the dock onto Lena frozen river and the Permafrost institute. GO
	From Yakutsk to Tomtor via Ust-nera A flight of about two hours brings me from Yakutsk to Ust-Nera, a town of approximately 8000 inhabitants, from where the tour continues to Tomtor by car, crossing valleys, mountains and villages having the lowest winter temperatures of the northen hemisphere. This area is also sadly known for gulags and executions during the first half of past century. GO
	Tomtor (YOU ARE HERE) Tomtor is a small town situated inside the "Pole of the Cold", the world's coldest inhabited place, where the January's average temperature is -50 degrees centigrades. I visit the old gold mine where nice ice sculptures are kept, and an hot spring where most water never freezes.
	Oymyakon Oymyakon is a village made of many charming small houses, where about 1200 people live. It is here that the lowest temperature of the northen hemisphere, -71,2°C, was recorded. I went on a frozen river with a fisherman, to see how ice fishing is carried-out, spending a few hours out at -52°C. I've also visited a nearby horse farm. GO
	From Oymyakon to Yakutsk via Tyoply Klyuch The distance from Oymyakon to Yakutsk is about 1000km and requires two full days by car, with an overnight in Tyoply Kluch. Again, wonderful frozen mountains, valleys, lakes and river, where everything is white. A visit to a meteo station is also included. GO
	Moscow Under an intense snowfall, I visit the Moscow's downtown area, including Red Square, St. Basil cathedral, Kremlin and the church of Christ the Savior. I move using mainly the very efficient subway metro, having also very beautiful stations.GO
	Trip dossier, equipment for cold weather, photography at low temperatures Such adventurous trip requires some care about planning, especially for choosing the right equipment for protection from cold weather and in preparation to take pictures in such extreme environment. In this section there are useful information about the equipment used, a short description of the Himalayan Suit by The North Face and how my digital camera Panasonic DMC-FZ20 has performed in the cold. A short trip dossier is also present. GO
Visit http://www.yakutiatravel.com for tours to Yakutia

Back to - THIS TRIP HOMEPAGE

Back to - OTHER TRIPS

Contacts - LUCIANO NAPOLITANO

This site is Copyright protected, please contact the author before using any part.