The week in Oymiakon was full of experiences, influences and emotions.
SHORT summary
Inside the car were +30 degrees while outside we had the -45 degrees. The landscape full of snow was passing the windows like in a video player "forward"-mode. Nearly 24 hours we were in the UASik on the way to Oymikaon. Artur, the driver repaired the car half of the way. But finally we arrived at 12am at the 11.January in Oymiakon (-52°C).
After the welcome of our host family Tamara and Oleg we explored the village while wearing 4 layers and maskes. No "Ice-Whispering" so far, because it's not enough to have -52 degrees only. (internet information are wrong about this. We noticed to difference of cold clearly. Our cloth were very warm and we walked until the sun set, which was around 4:20 pm. Oymiakon has another timezone. +10 hours from MEZ, Yakutsk is +9 hours. We got good food from Tamara and were very good hosted by her and her husband. We needed to get used to get the water from the river and that the toilet is outside.
One morning she mentioned the sound at the night time when the temperature went down to -57°C. .........
Sound
Besides we met a couple of nice people there, Jegorov the fisherman, he showed us how to fish, the meteorologist, the family of Tamara, Gregory the schoolbus driver, ..... We had nice talks and heart a lot things about Oymiakon's history, background and people. We saw how to get water in this conditions and how the people enjoy life, Sport, Miss "Baba-yaga" evening, the daily life at the "Pole of cold". But you can feel the "Global warming" in this area too. Talks with inhabitants showed that the temperature is rising every year. But still we got the cetificate of being at the "Pole of cold" at -53°C, the day before Russian New Year on the 13.1.2012.
We went for Tomtor for one day to meet a Ewen woman also to visit the Gulac museum. There are people who care about history, and it was good to see how they live in this conditions. Everybody is used, prepared and fine. This winter is winter, very strict but honest. Cold.
The equipment was working okay for some days, also needed to fix some cables which broke like glass in this cold, the camera shutter were frozen many times until we found a way. Also the sound equipment was very good for these conditions after I accepted that the displays of recorders and cameras are not working anymore.
We stood longer than planned, because of working and the problem of getting taxi drivers from Oymiakon to Yakutsk. Back in Yakutsk at the 19th of January we booked a hotel because we haven't registered yet. It's a must.
We took a lot of pictures and recorded a lot of sound, so that there is a lot to do to work on all this material, when we come back.
I leave you with the sketches and the images, the rest of story will follow.
