Laish La – touch the edge of space

We can now reveal more details about the Russian episode of Laish La. We didn’t quite put a man on the moon but we did put one into space. The 4 hosts came wanting to explore the possibility of getting closer to the stars and Russia having a great heritage of space travel, it was the perfect place to do this.

Moayed got the chance to fly in a MIG-29 twenty two km above sea level where he witnessed the curvature of the earth.

The very first man in space Yuri Gagarin said when he returned that earth was a wonderful place and we all must unite to take care of it. We believe that this is the essence of Laish La that if we all unite anything is possible.

THE CASE

In each episode of Laish La the 4 hosts stop people in the street to ask “What do you want to do before you die?” They then decide to help one of these people fulfil their dream. For the Russian episode the team decide that the person they would surprise would be none other than our very own Alyona Pimanova. When she was young she used to ice skate to a high level and dreamed of making it her career. As she got older, for different reasons she had to put skating aside to focus on other areas in her life, so her dream was to ice skate again as she had when she was young.

As she was part of the production team this meant a lot of white lies and misinformation to keep her from finding out what we were planning. This was made easier when she accompanied most of the team to Nizhny Novgorod for the MIG flight.

Back in Moscow the rest of the team were hard at work setting up the surprise. We visited nearly every ice rink in Moscow and we found one that would allow us to have it empty and all to ourselves on the Saturday evening.

We also spoke to a large number of agents of professional ice skaters to find an Olympic champion to give her a figure skating master class. Through a contact at the Moscow Sports University we managed to get a brilliant up and coming young skater who was happy to come and be part of the show.

We also tracked down Alyona’s ice skating teacher Tatiana Vitalievna she had not seen since she was very young.

The last part of the puzzle was to get her to the right place at the right time. We told her that the 4 hosts wanted her to show them how to skate and invited her to the rink. At this point she still had no idea what was about to happen and was thinking she would just help them to get skates and it would be the sign off.

She arrived helped them all hire ice skates and took them out on to the rink, then they told her that it was actually not about them, but was all for her. They emptied the rink and introduced the star who gave her some skating tips, then presenting her with a new ice skating outfit, let her have the whole rink to herself to remember how she used to skate which was her dream.

Photo By Reiss Nehme

Last surprise was presenting her with flowers and the finally of reuniting her with Tatiana. They danced the same routine as they used to nearly 15 years ago.

We are pleased to say that she has since continued to skate and this show has relighted the love she once had for ice skating. Dreams do come true it seems with a lot of work and the single minded ambition to make someone else life better is a great motivator.

This production will be one of the most interesting and fun shows we have worked on and we will remember that week for a long time to come. We are also pleased to have gained some wonderful friends among the team.

Photo By Reiss Nehme

 

Journey to the Pole of cold – Oymyakon, Yakutia

Oymyakon is known by another title ‘The Pole of Cold’. This is because in 1924 it recorded its lowest temperature (-71,2C) making it the coldest inhabited place on earth.

Initially, we were planning to make this trip in late December into January, but after a lot of research of the area we decided to move the journey until March when the days are longer and the roads are safer.

The safest time to go through the river on the ice road is from the second week of December up until the end of March. Everybody in Yakutsk told us it had been warmer than the year before, and the temperature hadn’t drop below -60C for the last 20-30 years which proves that it has some global warming issues.

George Kourounis, the host of the program “Angry Planet”, a Canadian adventurer and storm chaser, had Oymyakon on his list of the most spectacular places to visit and we were happy to organise and assist the Canadian crew in this exciting adventure (note: Alyona Pimanova worked as fixer on this trip with Dan Smith supporting from the Moscow office).

To reach Oymyakon we had to cross the river Lena, the 10^th longest river in the world, then to drive 8-10 hours to Khandyga followed by another 12 hour drive to get to Oymyakon. The road is a picturesque mountain highway which spiral past the most remarkable turquoise colored rivers. It is narrow with a shear drop on one side, and when you get really high it makes the heart soar. Trucks fallen over the edge is not an uncommon sight. Normally, it is a two day drive to Oymyakon from the city of Yakutsk but our crew had to get to another village of reindeer herders first, known as Topolinoe, where there are some remains of Gulag camps on the way.

The camps are 100 kilometers away from Khandyga on the way to Oymyakon, and then another 200 km after the turn to Topolinoe (in a Northern direction away from the main road). Depending on weather conditions, the journey can take between 5 to 15 hours. The local driver will never tell you exactly how long the journey will be, as the road is very unpredictable. Lots of trucks run from Yakutsk to the North with food and construction materials as long as the road is iced, which is why it is quite a busy road. Our journey did take us the full 15 hours due to getting stuck several times on the road which is only one lane wide, and made more difficult by the snowfall the day before, as well as having to pull over to avoid trucks coming towards us.

In such unpredictable weather and road conditions it is recommended to travel with two vehicles (It is very likely you will get stuck and the second vehicle can pull the other out). Although people you meet on the road are always very willing to help you in case you need it. But when it is -40C and dropping, when you get stuck every minute of waiting seems like a life time.

We were instructed by the Federal Rescue Service in Yakutsk to check in with them by satellite phone every evening when we reached each designated location where we would stay for the night. If we didn’t call them, that would be a signal to launch a search and rescue.

MOBILE CONNECTION

There is no mobile connection on the road to Oymyakon, only when you get to the village locations. So check with local drivers if they have satellite phones or bring one with you. When you get to the location, it is also important to know that not all mobile companies work in all settlements. If you are going to buy a local sim-card, it should be of the mobile company “Beeline”. It is the only mobile company that works in settlements such as Topolinoe, Oymyakon and Uchugey.

ROAD OF BONES

(Russian Federal Highway M56, also called “Kolyma” or “Kolyma Route”) is built upon permafrost between Yakutsk and Magadan which is 2032 kilometers, 1197 km on Yakutsk territory, 835 on Magadan. When gold and platinum were discovered in the Kolyma region in 1927-1932, one of Stalin’s projects was the construction of the main mountain road through the Olchan passes. They built 80 separate Gulag camps in the Kolyma region using hundreds of thousands of prisoners over the years to build the highway. The road of bones was built almost entirely by hand in the harsh conditions and workers who died there were buried where they fell which is how the road got its name.

MUSEUMS

In Khandyga there is a museum of the Gulag Camps, but recently the owner of the museum moved to another city and the museum is no longer open. Instead there is the museum of Magadan TRASSA (road) in Teply Kluch (70 km away from Khandyga in direction to Oymyakon).  Zinaida Viktorovna, the director of the museum, and Maria Mukhailovna, keep the photographs and the memoirs of many prisoners. Locals don’t like to remember or talk about the time of the Gulag, but when they do open up and talk about it it is even more horrific than you imagine.

After meeting with these ladies we continued our journey to Oymyakon. There is only one café on the way in Kubume (the so called CAFÉ) with homemade pies, borsh (Russian soup) and plov with reindeer meet. This was a beautiful surprise after many hours of bouncing around in the minivan on the bumpy road. Driving through the Olchan mountain pass was not as scary as on the way to Topolinoe, because the road has barriers to help protect vehicles falling, but even with these barriers you still come across trucks which have gone over the edge. Our driver took this part of the journey very carefully.

When we finally arrived in Oymyakon at midnight, our host Tamara Egorovna was waiting for us. The stove was warm and table was spread for dinner awaiting our arrival.

Note: Oymyakon used to be an administrative center and regional capital of the Oymyakon region (so called Ulus in Yakutia language) in the East of Yakutia. The region (ulus) consists of 7 urban type settlements, including Oymyakon, Tomtor, Ust-Nera, Uchugey. But in 1954 Ust-Nera became the administrative center and the leaders of the region moved there from Oymyakon.

Next morning it felt so much colder than in all other villages where we had stopped before, and when we checked the temperature, it showed -39C. The sun was very bright that it was impossible to stay outside without sunglasses. No wind but hard frost under the feet and very quiet. A silence which wraps itself around you.

After having been blessed by the spirit of fire (Yakut people believe in spirits and have a tradition of purification when the guests come to their ground), accompanied by the performance of their national instruments and throat singing, we visited the well-known site of the ‘Pole of cold’.

OYMYAKON OR VERHOYANSK

Tamara Egorovna, our host has been struggling for many years to fully have the title of Pole of Cold, which she is convinced should be given to Oymyakon, not to Verhoyansk (these two villages have arguing for the title for many years). Tamara has written several books with arguments proving that their village of Oymyakon deserves this title.

REINDEER HERDERS

There is a village of reindeer herders called Uchugey which is not far from Oymyakon. Reindeer herders live there in small houses and have their pasture several kilometers away. When we came to see them, their reindeer were in pastures 8 kilometers away, so it took us an hour on a sledge pulled by reindeer to reach the pastures. It isn’t the most comfortable way to travel as it is very bumpy and the icy wind bites any exposed skin. That and you can often fall off the sledge into the deep snow, but that said it was the most amazing and memorable ride, seeing the beauty of nature and the snow glittered in the sun, as well as breathing the air which feels so clean and fresh.

The Evenki (Eveny – reindeer herders in that area) when tending their reindeer live in tents made of a simple fabric. They make a fire in the tent, put benches on the ground where you can sit or sleep. Some of the crew stayed in the tent for the night with the Evenki, but three of us returned to the village by snowmobile where we had a quiet night in a warm house.

GARAGE

When it is below -20C, the vehicle should be put in a warm garage for the night, which we did in all places we stayed. But in Uchugey it was not possible and our vehicle had to stay all night with its engine running so not to freeze up.

ACCOMMODATION

In the city of Yakutsk we stayed in a very nice hotel the ‘Polar Star’ which is in a good location and has very friendly staff and great breakfasts which are essential for film crews who spend most of the day filming outside.

In all other locations/villages there are no hotels, but homestays instead. Because of the Festival “Pole of cold” which takes place in Tomtor and Oymyakon in the middle of March (this year it was on the 22 of March) we had to book rooms months in advance.

Here is a short ‘behind the scenes’ (mostly all the funny moments and memories of this wonderful trip)