Tag Archives: volcanism

It was farewell to Ksudach, as we choppered down toward the Kambalny and Koshelev volcanoes – which are so far south that you can clearly see three of the northern Kuril Islands. On the way, we passed both Ilynsky volcano and Kurile Lake…

Kurile Lake in so-so weather ->

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Fifteen kilometers southwest of Maly Semyachik is one of the two largest active volcanoes in Kamchatka (the other is Shiveluch) – Karymsky. Being so big and active, it’s a must-see – but only in fine weather. Alas, this year we simply flew past it a since – as the title of this post states – the weather wasn’t great, plus Karymsky’s peak was shrouded in cloud…

I’d long dreamed of one day sitting on the bank of Karymsky Lake, located next to Karymsky volcano, on a sunny day to be able to take a photo of the volcano’s reflection on the lake’s surface – but this year it wasn’t to be. Next time. Still, even on this overcast day the views weren’t so bad – albeit without the reflection off the lake…

No – that’s not Karymsky smoking; it’s cloud cover ->

But Karymsky is a known – inveterate! – smoker. Shouldn’t he have given up already? Here he is a few years ago – caught behind the bike sheds ->

The shape of the cone up top keeps changing as a result of the frequent eruptions…

Here it is in 2006:

Here in 2012:

April 2013 (note how one side of the upper cone is warmer than the other) ->

2021 (the cone covered in its own ash) ->

Also 2021:

PS: To give you the full picture – between Karymsky and Maly Semyachik winds the Karymsky River (whose source is Karymsky Lake). Yes – names tend to repeat each other round here…

The river’s cut out a canyon and dozens of waterfalls; here are two of them:

And that’s all for today, folks. But I’ll be back soon with more tales from the Kamchatka-2024 side…

All the photos from our trip are here.

Route 264 and the Valley of Geysers and Uzon caldera – done.

Next up on our Kamchatka-2024 summer vacation – Maly (Little) Semyachik – one of the three Semyachik-family volcanoes (the other two being Bolshoi (Big) Semyachik and Tsentralny (Central) Semyachik. So – why Maly, if it’s the little one? Actually, little or no – Maly is still an oh-my-grandiose-and-gorgeous volcano. See for yourself! ->

Inside its oval-shaped crater there sits that there beautiful lake, which measures around 800×1000 meters. I’d have described the lake just now as bright-turquoise colored – if it stayed bright turquoise all the time, but it doesn’t. Depending on (i) the particular acidity of its water fluid at a particular point in time, and (ii) how much light there is (in turn dependent on the time of day, the season of the year, and the weather) at that same particular point in time, it changes color: a chameleon lake! ->

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You’ve had my report on our six-day Uzon trek, but I hardly told you anything about where we ended up on the last day of the trek – the Valley of Geysers. Now, with a bit more time on my hands, I can collect up my thoughts and impressions thereupon, and share them with you at a gentler, more meditative tempo…

First – a few photos. Bubbling, hissing, spurting, steaming, pouring – all present and correct, sir:

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Onward – along Route 264. Ahead lie difficulties and hardships, raptures and amazements, volcanisms and bubbling-springisms. In short, what we were here for – what we love!…

And it all started here:

This is the estuary of the Semyachik river – a few kilometers from the tiny settlement of Zhupanovo (so tiny it’s not even on the Google map: somewhere here; oh – it is on Yandex Maps though) on the Pacific coast:

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Forty kilometers to the south of Kronotsky there are two “cult” Kamchatkan volcanisms: (i) the Uzon volcanic caldera… ->

…and the famous Valley of Geysers ->

This year, instead of choppering in, looking about for a bit, then choppering off again, we decided to do a multi-day trek along the old Soviet Route No. 264…

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Next up, one of the most beautiful volcanoes in the world, and probably the most refined of the peninsula – Kronotsky ->

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It was farewell to what is possibly the world’s remotest hotel complex, and off we choppered south to our next Kamchatkan volcanic wonder – Kizimen (pronounced KizEEmen). And here she is – the view from the south:

And from the north ->

What differentiates this particular volcano of Kamchatka from others are the two lakes at its foot set among wonderfully “designer” landscapes. There’s also the amazing view of nearby Kronotsky volcano – here on the horizon to the right, upon which you can meditate for an eternity.

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Just like in Kamchatka, in Indonesia (where last week we had our super-successful Security Analyst Summit), there are a great many really cool hot volcanoes! I should know, since I’ve checked some of them out a few times – in 2018 around New Year, and last year after a press event (when we scaled Mount Rinjani). Fast-forward to this year and it was time to leave Bali and head on over to Java – Indonesia’s main island – to check out the mighty Ijen (here)…

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Hi folks,

After the brief Chinese interlude (the three intro-posts to our China-2024 trip), it’s time to move (figuratively) directly northeast back to… Kamchatka!

Without a doubt, one of the jewels in the crown of the Klyuchevsky group of volcanoes is Tolbachik. We’d already marveled at the northern volcanic trio (Klyuchevskaya Sopka, Kamen and Bezymianny) of the group, and also the canyon of the Studyonaya river. Now it was time for the mentioned jewel; actually – jewels. For Tolbachik is actually two volcanoes – the long-dormant Ostry (sharp) Tolbachik, and the rather active Plosky (flat) Tolbachik…

The view from the north:

And here’s the view of practically the whole Klyuchevsky group from up in a helicopter. The pointed-cone volcano in the foreground is Ostry (remember – sharp) Tolbachik; the flat-topped on next to it – you guessed it: Plosky (flat) Tolbachik ->

Read on…