A small but very proud – and impossibly cold – town.

The town of Verkhoyansk is one of extremes. First and foremost, it’s considered to be one of the coldest places on the planet – a Pole of Cold. It also happens to be the northernmost town in Yakutia (so – not including villages), and it’s also the town (again – not village) with the smallest population in Russia. Wait – there’s more: back to the climate theme, it’s in the Guinness Book of Records for having the greatest range of temperatures – a whopping 105.8°C between the coldest and warmest!

Here’s the sign at the village’s town’s gates as you enter it ->

The town of Verkhoyansk – the Pole of Cold

Of course, the town is proud of its world’s coldest status; it even has a plaque celebrating the fact ->

This old abandoned building is what used to be a weather station, which, among other things, would record the record low temperatures. It suffered fatal damage during one of the many floods that occur here (extreme cold, extremely hot summers, floods…: poor old Verkhoyansk!) ->

Out with the old; in with the new (weather station) ->

And of course – another plaque (for it was right here that the coldest temperature was recorded)! ->

Here’s who’s in charge of the weather station – Zhanna Mironova. She gave us a wonderful and energetic tour of the facilities. A big spasibo to her ).

Of course temperatures are tracked from here (this year’s lowest so far: -62°C), but also various other solar activities – and also cosmic radiation.

We were shown a Ugarev thermometer – this is apparently a far superior thermometer: it of course measures temperature, but also what the temperature feels like – cool, cold, freezing, extremely cold… ~cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey :)! ->

After the weather station, naturally, a spot of… bathing!

It goes without saying that a dip in this is invigorating: no surprises there. But I’m sure it’s a very healthy jolt to the system too – after all, we had been sitting on our backsides waaaay too much of late driving along winter roads…

Key to the experience being bearable is the warm tent next to the pool: it’s got a stove inside. You get into your bathing suit/trunks in there, out you pop, in you plop, and then see how long you can last! Then you race back into the warm tent all shivering to get dressed…

First to take a dip were the ladies, of course…

…But – eek – I’ve no photos to show of their bravery. I asked the others for any of their pics – also no. Maybe they were too… inappropriate? Actually – no; no inappropriate pics were taken either!

Actually, this was really an ice-dip lite. For the temperature here on this day was just -2°C, while some of us had done such a dip below -50°C! (Don’t believe me? 2021 and 2022!).

Next up – the local museum…

…Which is all about the history of the town and its status as a Pole of Cold:

Plenty inside, but as I’ve mentioned before, there’s simply not enough time to check it all out ->

However!… One exhibit did stand out – the skeleton of an extinct woolly rhinoceros! ->

Assorted taxidermy:

A few more pics of Verkhoyansk…

The Verkhoyansk Community Center:

The town’s school, where we were treated to a delicious lunch – thank you!

The school building, btw, was recently refurbished and in places maybe even rebuilt. The sports center also looks freshly repaired and restored:

Not sure what this is – the town’s main square? Its park? (You can’t really tell what with all the snow.) Whatever it was – nicely unusual! ->

Interesting town-planners/designers work here. Even the street lights have a certain stylishness about them! ->

385, btw – is how long the town’s been in existence ->

A few more pics…

And then we were back on our way – heading east (!) to Batagay – not on a winter road but a “proper” one ->

What’s this? What on earth could have happened here?!! ->

The very few other vehicles we met on the road had ever-so polite drivers; here, for example: the driver of this van didn’t have to move over to let us pass – but he did! ->

En route to Batagay – we pass through the village called Stolbi (Columns) ->

As you can see – it’s a remote village, and also tiny, with just a few hundred souls living there. All the same – suddenly: traffic lights :0)! ->

No – really! So we of course waited patiently at the red light while the queues of green-lighted traffic that had the right of way shuffled along! ->

Wait – there’s more incongruous curiosity. This sign… ->

…It states: No speeding! Remember – the fate of other people is in your hands!

In all – a great road. Highly recommended!

The rest of the photos from our Yakutsk-Tiksi-Yakutsk expedition are here.