The temperature is not too extreme for January in Yakutsk, just over -40 degrees Celsius. Today I was standing at probably the coldest fish market in the world and asked one of the vendors, who had come all the way from Tiksi to sell his catch, how on earth he kept warm ever day while standing outdoors during the harshest part of winter.
He answered me with a smile, ”You have to move all the time. It is dangerous to stand still. You have to jump almost to the level of feeling sweat breaking out.”
That was probably the best advice I could get before the expedition which is set to begin in the next few days. I have learned so much since my family and I arrived in Yakutsk a few days ago. This is going to be a very demanding expedition.
First of all, we are talking about extremely low temperatures which might even dip below -60 Celsius. On top of that avalanches are a problem right now in the area where we will be traveling. We plan to trek through the same beautiful mountain range as Vitus Bering walked in the mid 18th century. He found these parts to be the most demanding of his walk. We have faced difficulty in figuring out how to transport all of our food and petrol for an entire month with us. There is also a great amount of wolves in this area at the moment. Reports claim that one pack might be as large as 400 wolves!
Anyways, we are off for the wilderness on Tuesday and there is way too much to do. We are still having a few tech problems. The sat phone is not working again, so this might be one of few reports on the trip. Hopefully we might be able to fix it.
My team on this expedition consists of three good fixers!
The first member, who also set up this expedition, is Yegor Makarov, a well known business man and explorer in Yakutisa. He has done some amazing trips in the region over the years, most of which are unknown, but should be noted as vital in the history of the regions exploration. He has found a new team of reindeer herders in the Khabarovsk Krai who will join us. As far as I know, there will be four of them including one female cook! Now that gives perspective! On top of that, 25 reindeer will pull our sleds through this very demanding area.
The second member is known by most bloggers interested in this extreme part of the world, Bolot Bochkarev. He is good at pretty much everything and incredibly important for me when it comes to communicating with the others. This will be his first serious expedition.
The third member is the film/photographer, Yuri Berezhnov. Yuri was trained in Moscow but brought up in a small village 20 kms outside of Yakutsk. He is a really hard working and very easy going fellow. Luckily he is also an excellent photographer of film.
It feels genuinely good being back in this world. I just feel sad that there are so many tech problems that are taking much of the joy out of the expedition so far, but such is the modern variety. I am sure that back in the day, explorers faced other similar problems.
Right now we are taking care of all the essentials like buying food, getting permits, checking tech and so on before we leave. I am genuinely amazed that we have actually made it! In reality I did a years worth of work in 2 months. All that on top of my normal job editing the Yemen documentary. It has all been a bit chaotic. To read more about the hectic preparations, which included the passing of my mother a week before we left, go to www.expedition-extreme-cold.posterous.com
The kids are doing real well and, like me, adjusting slowly to the new time zone. We are still falling asleep at 1 or 2 in the morning and waking up mid day. Pam, my wife, has set up a home here. It is a really flashy flat overlooking parts of the majestic Lena River. We have come to realize that vegetables and fruit are pricey out here! Life is more expensive here than in Sweden, but the wages are half in comparison. How they do it? They help each other.
Now I am off out to try to see if we can fix the tech problems again!