Far-North Road-Trip 2024: the adventure begins…

Hi folks!

Been a while, I know. But there’s a good reason, as you’ll see…

I’ve finally – after getting on for three weeks! – gotten the opportunity to share with you at least some details about our latest winter remote Siberian road-trip adventure. I wasn’t able to earlier since the distances involved are dizzying long, the weather’s constantly thoroughly deep-frozen, and the autobahns winter roads are… winter roads (no rest areas, not much of anything but ice and snow and endlessness). Then of course there was the internet nuance we came up against: there is Wi-Fi in even the tiniest of villages along the way, but… it’s inaccessible to travelers passing through – there’s no way or place to pay for it! But more on such wtafs trifles coming up later in the upcoming posts on this, our latest Russian-wintery-wilderness road-trip from the extreme side (this post being the first in the series). For now though, as per tradition – some introductory photos with a few accompanying introductory words…

So, first off – our route. Here it is. Wait a while (like a minute+!) for it to open (it’s Iridium).

As for the pics, they’re simply magical – especially the ones taken on and of aufeis; for example ->

The March weather – as to be expected in northeastern Siberia – frigidly frosted ->

…But since when has that ever stopped us?

Check out some of the ride stats:

Onward we drive…

Sun + aufeis = so nice! But the wind was a shocker: -40°C!

The coldest it got down to was around -50°C, but on most days the mercury hovered around -40°. Some days were positively warm: up to -30°C – imagine?!

After an overnight stay, onward – northward. Looking back – there’s the sun waaaay down south ->

In one day:

The winter-road ice isn’t always clear of snow and smooth:

And here’s us ->

Vast white stillness. Just like on our Kolyma Highway road-trips, it starts to hypnotize after a while. Actually, I first felt such an ice-desert hypnotic effect in Antarctica ).

Mirage? ->

Brrrr ->

In places the ice goes all Krypton-Kryptonite; just look at its thickness (a meter+, if it’s hard to tell)! ->

We finally made it to our destination – the town Tiksi (here).

The stats for that day:

The totals:

The “places to stay” theme in one pic! ->

We were really lucky with the weather on the approach to and in Tiksi: clear sky, sun, no snow, no wind. Paradise! (Except for the temperature.)

But later it was a paradise lost: just the opposite of the weather conditions just listed. We nearly didn’t make it back out of the town. Yes, it was bad. But more on that later…

Random pic along the way:

Tiksi (why not Tixy in English?) ->

…And in the other direction:

On the winter road across the frozen Laptev Sea:

Ooh – what’s that bright green color up in the sky over there? All in good time folks!…

It was not always plain sailing cruising…

And that’s all for today folks. Hope your appetites for a deep-frozen travelogue series from the extreme north are duly whetted. Get the popcorn – and iced daiquiri – in for what’s coming. Stay tuned!…