Tag Archives: iym expedition

If you think we drove the alternative Kolyma route just out of curiosity… you’re absolutely right! Purely and solely out of curiosity. As it turned out though, some of our key partners have facilities there – we protect them from all sorts of cyber-nastiness, and they invite us to visit their operations. And the stars aligned so that one of Russia’s most golden enterprises – the Natalka gold-ore deposit – sits right by Route 44N-4 – the very alternative Kolyma route we were on. And here we are!

First up – a quick preview of coming attractions…

That’s the pit: one of the largest open-pit mines in the world.

And this is the finished product. About 75% gold, another 20-plus percent silver, plus assorted other stuff. These little bars weigh about 12 kilograms each, and from here they’re sent off for more thorough processing to produce practically pure gold – 999 fineness – and roughly the same purity of silver.

Between the pit and the finished product lies an incredibly complex technological cycle, which I’ll try to explain in a bit.

But first, a little history…

Read on…

If you ever need to dash from Yakutsk to Magadan (or Magadan to Yakutsk) by car – you need to take the only road that exists between the two cities. And that road is the Kolyma Highway: 2000+ kilometers with the route Yakutsk – Khandyga – Ust-Nera – Susuman – Magadan. And it’s an absolutely mind-blowingly beautiful road in January or February!…

I’ve already driven it along four (4!) times in the winter. And something tells me I’ll be back for more deep-frozen far-eastern road-trip tourism – and more than once.

Near Susuman, the highway splits into two branches: the main route, and an alternative route – 100km shorter, but trickier. This alternative road, marked 44N-4 (also known as the Tenkinskaya Highway), may be less comfortable for crossing the vast Kolyma region, but it’s far more scenic – at least in the dead of winter. So we hang a right off the main Kolyma road – and off we pop!…

Read on…

One morning – not too early, but still dark out – we piled into our vehicles and rolled out of Ust-Kut toward the ice road, heading for the town of Mirny (here)…

The weather was treating us well – a balmy -22°C for this time of year. We sure didn’t expect that!

Read on…

The Bratsk Hydroelectric Power Plant on the Angara River is a fascinating facility with an equally fascinating history. Construction began way back in 1954 – over 70 years ago. The first turbine unit came online in 1961, with the rest phased in gradually. For about eight years this power plant held the title of the world’s largest by installed capacity. (Fun fact: the crown then passed to another Soviet plant, the Krasnoyarsk HPP.) Anyway, here’s the Bratsk HPP:

A mightily powerful structure…

Read on…

When the temperature drops below -50°C, the world turns into something else. It doesn’t just freeze; it visually transforms. Everything gets wrapped up head to toe in hoarfrost and grows a thick layer of fluffy white crystals. It’s kind of like the inside of a freezer, only way more intense. Trees, road signs, poles and the wires on the poles are all coated in white hoarfrost:

This year that kind of a deep-deepest freeze in the Russian Far East only took place in December and January, while February turned out to be unseasonably warm. In fact, I’d say it was hot for February in Yakutia. If the thermometer shows -20°C at that time of year – yes, that’s hot! The thermometer only crept lower than -40°C a couple of times early in the morning, but it’d almost immediately warm up to -30°C or even higher. It got to the point where, for most of the trip, I wasn’t even wearing thermal ski pants – just jeans. I had some thermal leggings on underneath the jeans – but that was it. And I only wore my fur-lined boots once (when we spent the night in our cars on the ice of the Kolyma River to enjoy the northern lights and a total lunar eclipse).

At such higher-than-usual temperatures, all the white beauty melts away quickly, and the world turns gray and boring again. But at least a few times we got lucky and drove right into “proper” bleached scenery:

Read on…

…*But were afraid to ask

Being somehow drawn to the deep-frozen (sometimes down to -60°C!) North in winter, obsessed with brutal Siberian winter roads, having to put up with equally brutal overnight stays, and thousands of kilometers of rough roads tracks… – let’s be honest, it’s a mental anomaly. Most people would only venture into such a world against their will. Suggest a winter trip to Oymyakon instead of, say, the Maldives, and any normal person would twirl their index finger around one of their temples and roll their eyes. At the other extreme – there are some folks who can’t get enough of such extremely frigid locations like the Arctic or Antarctic. I’m not quite that far gone, but every couple of years I do try and tackle a new winter driving route. I simply mad for it!…

Up north in the winter, it’s a completely surreal world of whiteness!

The scenery in places is simply stunning:

You zone out watching these views roll by, driving as if hypnotized – for hundreds and hundreds of kilometers…

Read on…

We’re all different. Some folks have a pedigree dog and a whole houseful of kids and grandkids. Others keep two or three cats – each with its own personality. Some even keep exotic tropical cockroaches and snakes. Some get hooked on online games; others prefer the real world. Some head to the beach in summer for the sun and sea; others make for the mountains – the higher the better. We’re all different – me included. For me – here’s how: my face is usually tanned from trips to the tropics, yet I’ve also developed a serious fondness of Siberian winters and frosty landscapes – those of the meditative-contemplative kind…

For Siberian frosts (especially those in Yakutia) really do invite contemplation – particularly when you’re driving long distances through the wilderness. Like this season…

Not that we got a proper cold snap this year, while the bleached winter scenery really does depend on the uniquely Siberian deep frosts. But I’ll save that topic for another post; for now…

Read on…

Privyet folks!

With a few thousand kilometers behind us, things were getting somewhat rough and ready – despite the gorgeous bleached-white scenery…

At times, for five (5!) days straight we didn’t have any internet at all. Or a shower with soap and shampoo. Or a warm WC. Nothing at all! And when such comforts of civilization did finally show up, a line quickly formed to get at them!

Anyway, on with my notes from the winter roads…

Another “1111” sign for my collection ->

But where is it?…

Read on…

People sometimes ask me: “Eugene, why are you so drawn to the North? What is it about deep-frozen Siberian cities likes Yakutsk, or just-as-cold Far-Eastern ones like Magadan, and the treacherous winter roads that connect them?

It’s like this. In the Arctic and near-Arctic it’s always winter – even when it’s summer. But the “real” winter – December to February – is just so much colder. Still, there are no gnats, mosquitoes, or other bloodsuckers, and that, to me, more than makes up for the cold. (And anyway – a Russian afraid of the cold? That would be like… a burger patty being afraid of buns.) Curiously, southern/central Yakutia (the Sakha Republic) is well away from (well south of) the Arctic, but in winter it can get much colder there. If you don’t believe me, look at the temperature data by region. For example, compare the climate of Tiksi (on the north coast of Russia – inside the Arctic Circle) with that of Yakutsk. Who knew?! So yes, the climate is a harsh one, and not to many folks’ taste. Not to mine in and of itself, but there’s something else – besides the lack of hungry insects – that makes up for the intense (-60°C and below!) cold in winter: central Yakutia – for example along the Kolyma highway – only gets prettier. It becomes a deep-frozen, absolutely white, winter-wonderland scene that’s simply unique. I’ve enthused and raptured about it plenty before (see my MYM (2021) and MYB (2022) expedition series of posts). Unfortunately (!), this year the winter was extremely warm, with average temperatures around just (!) -20/-30°C (which is very unusual for late winter), so the views, alas, weren’t so magical.

Nevertheless, extremely cold or no, when you head out early in the morning for another day’s drive, you’re immediately overcome by some kind of special northern hypnosis. And sunrises only intensify the feeling:

Read on…

I don’t think I mentioned what route we’re taking this year on our road-trip, so here it is: Irkutsk > Yakutsk > Magadan (not necessarily the route shown on the map at that link; that’s just to give you an idea of the where and the how long?!!).

The expedition is going well, but I soon realized I’ve no energy in the evenings for full travel reports. After all, I’m behind the wheel for most of each long day. Accordingly, I won’t be writing often along the way – just occasionally when something “stop the presses” happens. Like it did, 700km east of Yakutsk, for example…

We were on the Old Kolyma Highway (Stariy Kolumskiy Highway), hoping to drive from Tomtor to where the mostly abandoned old road meets the “New” Kolyma Highway (the R-504), here:

Driving on old, mostly abandoned roads in the middle of nowhere is only for the… brave at the best of times; in the middle of winter in Siberia – only for the crazy; in the middle of an especially snowy winter in Siberia – only for… (what comes after crazy?!). But, the crazy crazies that we are, we still went for it!…

Read on…