February 12th
A far from permanent camp called Turten (Eveny word meaning “the place with no food for the reindeer”)
Around -30 degrees Celsius (amazingly warm!)

Paradise found!

Yesterday when we rode into Vika´s papa’s camp, it felt like I was part of an old Western movie. However, instead of teepees and horses, we found 7 tents with warm smoke coming out of them.  There were also a bunch of sleds with reindeer tied to them, which showed they were not staying here permanently. This was the temporary home of Vika’s parents, Piotr and Jevdokya Andreejevs. We got off the sleds after another hard day – 30 kms of too much risky ice and dense forest which we pretty much shot through at full speed. I thought the main reason for us being here was that Vika wanted to see her parents, but it was really that Yura wanted to see his 8 month pregnant wife who was in camp waiting to be airlifted out to the hospital in Okhotsk by helicopter. Another fact I wasn’t aware of. There´s so much info, so much interesting conversation, which just passes me by. If I ever regret not speaking a language, this is the time!

Before I continue with my joy of having found a piece of paradise, let me just tell you that the last three days have been very demanding. Especially two days ago when we had a long passage of open ice, which as you can understand, in these temperatures a crossing like that is extremely dangerous, if not a certain death.

We began the day by descending from a high plateau, about 250 meters in altitude onto the ice. We got hit by a major situation immediately. One of the young reindeers which was picked up on route, also not known to me, had a faulty leg. Now it didn´t want to continue. It just refused to stand up. The leader of the group, Slava, went up to the young one and stroked it, patted it and talked to it. You can really see how much the Even love their reindeer and how much they care for them. That was one of the most beautiful moments in my life, happenings I only have with my daughters and wife, true joy, this moment of love. But, of course, you need to proceed quite hard to get the animal up on its feet and eventually it did work, so we all set off over the ice surrounded by a stunning scenery of old, rolling mountains. We went through the ice at one point, but it was fortunately double ice. Yura told me that he had gone through the ice once at this area, a year back, but didn’t think that was anything to make an issue of. Worse was that he had lost reindeers who had gone under. And Tolya had, of course, lost his brother who went through the ice on his snowmobile a year back in time.

When crossing the ice, in total probably 5 kms, you move fast and try to avoid stops. It was somehow thrilling, since in all this possible drama, the surroundings just took the breath out of me. Anyways, it is always good to move a bit to scare off this freezing cold we have had since the start. It has really been cold and demanding, but we are out of the worst now, since we have crossed into a new zone, from Yakutia to the Khabarovsk region. These are two different climate zones. Right now all the snow has dropped off of the trees. There is much less snow and the cold has risen to easier night temperatures around -35 and -40,

The only problem in this area is the constant wind. I have picked up a couple of slight frostnips, nothing serious, or as the Eveny would say:

“Normal-na”

This adventure is really on par with a good Jack London book!

Well at least it is for me. For the Eveny, this is just a normal day of their demanding life. This life is so demanding I found out after arriving in camp and met what I thought was the old lady of the camp Jevdokya.  It turns out that she was the same age as me, 50, and I was sure she was around 65-70. Today she showed me how wrong I was to assume this.

This morning I set off after 1 with the hardest working photographer in the world, Yura Berezhnev, who is also a great guy and tough as steel, and Vika, and her mother to go to their autumn camp. We went to Malma (meaning small river in Evensky) which was 4 kms off to pick up some food and clothes left there half a year ago. She shot over the ice like a rocket and even wanted us to compete running!

The autumn camp was a beauty. Log cabins, tents, storage huts on poles and traces of successful hunting. Trophys from bear, moose, mountain goat and wild reindeer hunts littered the camp. This was also the place where the children get picked up by helicopter and brought to school and their boarding home. Talking about children, we have a lovely boy, 6 years old, Andre in camp who we all love. I see how much more I interact with children now when I have 2 daughters and a wife which I dream about every night and miss. Andre will start school next year and seems to love life out here!

Another person in the team who loves life out here is Egor Makarov. He has been the man behind this Expedition and without his friendship, this would have never been possible. Initially tense from all of the business demands, he is now so relaxed and extremely important to the Expedition because he interacts greatly with everyone we meet and is very liked by all. I could not have chosen a better partner. Unfortunately there is the language barrier again, and we have so much to talk about but can´t. This is sad of course.

Bolot has a sore throat and has felt bad for a couple of days.

It has been a tough start. I have put on far too much fat and have been too tired, but this is normal for me, I wanna be strong until the end. I hope this will be the case this time as well. I am loosing weight and feeling stronger each day. 😉

This is a fantastic time and I feel more privileged than ever to get this chance.