Voluptuous volcanoes – in Yakutia. | Nota Bene: Eugene Kaspersky’s Official Blog

After my Korean interlude, it’s back to tales from the deep-frozen Siberian side; namely – a continuation of our drive along the winter road between the villages of Khonuu and Sasyr. The first installment is here.

We’d wrapped up our naled-and-ice photo sessions, clambered back onto land, and it was time to press on!…

Up ahead, another of our must-check-out targets came into view – one of Yakutia’s volcanoes, Uraga-Khaya ->

And getting a look at it from the drone was a +1 must-do for this year’s ~~expedition~~ jaunt…

Here it is on the map.

Turns out the non-Russian internet knows precious little about this volcano. It’s mentioned in passing on Wikipedia on the page for a nearby volcano, but that’s about it for the “legacy internet” (well, well, who’d have thought there could ever be such a phrase; wait – maybe there isn’t; maybe I’ve just invented it: move over Shakespeare and your salad days:). As for the “new money internet” (that’s another phrase I really should copyright:), aka in-search-engine AI, guess what source it finds to return its “intelligent” [sic.] answer? One of my previous blogposts!

And here are a few more drone shots of this long-extinct, much-eroded, but still-very-much-a-volcano volcano:

The volcanic edifice is a modest one – a mere 1324 meters tall // curiously – the exact same height of Krenitsyn volcano in the Kurils, which, in my opinion, is the king of all volcanoes!

Here, everything’s a touch more modest, but… well, there’s something… a little… erotic about this volcano; no?! ->

Clearly, I’d been on the (winter) way too long ).

The second volcano – the one that has its own Wikipedia page – sits some 25km away as the crow flies, but how many kilometers of winding winter road it took, I no longer recall. Timewise it as about an hour and a half. But the road’s a good one – never a dull moment driving along it:

And here we are, near the second volcano. Can hardly see it? That’s what we thought too: the closest point to it from the winter road is about seven kilometers (the first one – five).

Here’s the second volcano – Balagan-Tas, (here on Yandex Maps):

Wow! Google Maps shows plenty more clear detail. Come on, Yandex: get a grip. Where’s your pride? )

This volcano isn’t tall at all either – ~990 meters.

The second volcano’s age is modest too. If the internet’s to be believed, it’s only around 400 years old, and its last eruption was in 1775 (who could have observed it back then and noted it down in their diary? In other words, the source isn’t entirely transparent). But if that’s so, then Yakutia’s mountain ranges may treat us volcanology buffs to more than a few more shows yet! Even within our lifetimes.

So there you have it – some photos and tales of Yakutian volcanism. And if any volcanologists who’ve stumbled across this post happen to be reading, I’m glad to share all the info I’ve got on how to get there, and so on.

Meanwhile, we kept winding along the winter road, which runs down the valley of the Moma River between the Momsky and Chersky mountain ranges, leading us inexorably off somewhere to the southeast, toward our next overnight stop – one we’d only just planned. Look closely and you can make out, snaking down the middle, the strip of winter road we were driving along:

Just look at these vast open spaces. But the bitter cold, the permafrost… These parts can hardly wait for the global warming we’ve all been promised for so long (excuse my non-PC joshing)…

And waaay over there, a little to the right of center – that’s us, trundling along the winter road ->

And waaaay up there on the right – the biggest naleds on the planet: water bursting out onto ice that’s frozen solid. Even from a distance they look unreal. But getting to them in “civilian” vehicles was just too tricky. You need more serious off-roaders for it – like a Trekol or Burlak, and with overnight stops. Maybe some other time…