January 31st
Village of Yuchyugei
-58 degrees Celcius this morning
”This is the first time I have traveled in this area on this route” , Tonya the Eveny reindeer herder told me. When I asked him, what he felt about doing this Expedition, he finished off with these true words; “For us who are nomads and roam the area freely, this is nothing extra ordinary to travel 600 kms in these low temperatures.”
I just love when somebody who is the real deal takes away all the fuss created by the media and by explorers like me. We often forget that what we explorers claim to do as firsts, local people have done as a normal work day many times. This is also one reason I want to do this journey, to put emphasis on this reality. One of the four herders that will join us, I didn`t get his name in the cold, had two really bad and infected cold sores on his cheeks. He didn´t whine or complain. He just said it was normal damage he picked up on his way to join us for this crossing. I found out today that our crossing is a historical route where local people back in the 19th Century used to ship goods from Okhotsk to the inner part of Skaha/Yakutia.
It was -50 degrees below zero this morning in the village of Yuchyugei! At first I didn´t get it because we spent the night indoors in a heat which felt like a sauna! It was probably 33-34 degrees Celsius! That is how most people have it here and you can´t do much about, since the heating is centrally controlled. For this reason, going to the outdoor loo, is quite nice since at least you can breathe!
Since you last heard from us, we have traveled 900 kms east from Yakutsk to this village, where our other 4 members of the team, the reindeer herders, have been staying. The camp where the 25 reindeer await us is a few kilometers away. It has been a surprise to me that the herders have “demanded” that we bring one of their wife´s as a cook! See what I mean, normal job for these fellas!
We are still in the preparation phase. Egor Makarov is doing a great job with his large net of friends and contacts. If all goes well, we will start tomorrow midday. I look forward to that a lot! It is a dream come true! I asked Bolot (our translator but also a famous Yakutian blogger) in Oymyakon today what he feared the most from this trip and his answer was:
“I don´t really want to mix too much with people and staying together with the same 7 people for a month, day and night. I fear this more than the cold because I think we have enough equipment to stand the extreme cold.”
This expedition is also new to me. This time I am in front of the camera, which is so much harder than being behind it. I have never had a translator before in this capacity, and, well, I have always said more than 3 people on a trip is a crowd. This time I am not doing the organizing…scary!
There is no doubt, this trip is probably the biggest challenge I have ever had and I believe the cold will be much tougher for all of us, except for the reindeer herders.
Today we went to what is called the Pole of Cold, Oymyakon and also did some interviews with some horse breeders of the famous, but quite unknown Yakut horse. When talking to the local people, they, of course, say things are easier today, in the modern era, as compared to earlier when school kids walked 7 kilometers to school and the same distance back and suffered bad cold sores in these low temperatures. Today there are school buses. Local people just stay indoors when temperatures go below -55 degrees Celsius. Except, of course the reindeer herders!
I hope we are off tomorrow, I am eager to get out into the “real” world!
