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Jon Turk
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ski-based kite towing
- Older in Siberia 2004: Now on skis - Newer in Siberia 2004: Village of Talovka
Jon called in the middle of the night Friday. they're having fun now. - Chris Struggling toward Talovka. Last week it was so warm that the rivers were breaking up, but this week we've been battling -20 C and swirling blizzards that make it hard to see the black ice at our feet. Just one more of the enigmas of Siberian travel, even though we are in a horrendous blizzard there's hardly any snow so we've been forced to trudge over frozen-solid, hummocky tundra. All of our appropriate technology, like the kites and skis are banging along behind us in our sleds. The gear is getting a terrible thrashing. We are crawling like ants through the Siberian wilderness, lucky to make 5 miles a day. At this rate it will be two more long days until we reach the small village of Talovka. About 4 o'clock this afternoon we spotted a strange boat-like cabin on the horizon. This didn't make sense to me but we pushed on. Turns out that we've reached the Penzinski River. The cabin is on a boat that must have gone aground a while ago, but the stove still works so we've fired it up. Finally the sat phone is warm enough to send out this dispatch. It's going to be a long strange trip and the Arctic Ocean seems impossibly far away. Misha and I decided that we'll just keep on going and see what we find next in this land of extremes. If it warms up I'll keep you posted.
Dated: 04/02/2004
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