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Jon Turk
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intro part 5
- Older in Siberia 2004: intro part 4 - Newer in Siberia 2004: intro part 6
Ok, so we decided to wander across the abundant void of Siberia for no good reason with no known destination. Our job was to go out there, stay alive, and come back smiling! In Siberia cold can kill you. But absence of cold can kill you just as dead. The best time to travel is during the frozen spring after the real cold of winter moderates. Once the summer thaw sets in, tundra turns to deep bog, impassible rivers block your path, and you can?t travel any more. So you starve to death. We?re leaving in mid March. I suppose that the old lady will send us off with some sort of ceremony, but you never know for sure. We?re leaving from the east coast of Siberia and heading due north to the Arctic Ocean. There?s an airport in the city of Pevek and we can fly home from there. It?s very much the same distance as starting at the British Columbia/Northwest Territories border and heading to the Arctic coast of Canada, near Inuvik. We considered different ways to travel: Reindeer sled is too slow because the reindeer eat moss, which is such a low-quality food that they spend most of their time eating, and they don?t go very far in a day. Dogsleds are much faster, but then you spend most of your time finding food for the hounds, so you don?t go very far. We even tried bicycles on the windswept frozen tundra, but when the snow softens up you sink and feel real silly, standing around with a bicycle up to its axels in soft snow with all the local folks laughing at you. So, we?re going to ski with assistance from power kites! More about the kites on the next update!
Dated: 03/05/2004
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