A few years ago, the Moscow-based Independent correspondent Shawn Walker arrived in Yakutsk, the administrative center of Siberia’s Republic of Sakha-Yakutia, in the deep winter. I think it was January. So, he wanted to visit Oymyakon, but he was lack of time adn eventually he didn’t make it to that coldest inhabited village.

Shawn returned to Moscow and wrote and an article with many Yakutsk winter images. He called his piece “Journey to the coldest city in the world.” That was like a bomb in the UK

Since that moment, mass media started to use the phrase “the world’s coldest city” for Yakutsk in their own stories. That’s actually true. Oymyakon, for instance, is not the city, it is a small village, though it has -60C as the average temperature in the late December and January.

Meanwhile, we are taling about Yakutsk City and its winter with -50C and -52C. That’s the temp we’ve got this week. Enjoy photographs.

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Today we had -51C (-59.8F) in a daytime, though in the morning a local meteo station registered -49C (-56.2) that meant school free time for kids of 1st to 8th grade. Anyway it’s bitterly cold.

Below, watch two short videos I made today during the lunch time.

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The photographs were taken on the road between Oymyakon and Khandyga in the mountain part of the Kolyma Highway known also as Stalin’s Road of Bones.

When we were driving, the outdoor temperature was as low as -55C. In the beginning of the way, i.e. in the village of Tomtor in the Oymyakon area, we registerd -57.3C. Extremely cold. Not surprised that the Kolyma road is considered by many as the coldest one in the world.

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Happy New Year, friends!!! Wish you all the best dreams to come true!!!! Thank you for staying with Yakutia the last year. Let’s do it again in 2012

Meanwhile, enjoy the New Year fireworks happened in Yakutsk, Russia.

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Yesterday I just stood a little bit near the New Year tree installed recently on Lenin Square in Yakutsk City, Yakutia, Siberia / Russia, and took my chance to take a picture and make a video.

The photo is above. The video is inside the post. Read the rest of this entry…

Winter starts from Yakutia! This is how a new travel project is called. What’s that? A good question.

Officials, who are responsible for tourism development in Russia’s Republic of Sakha-Yakutia, have been thinking over tricks of attracting tourists to Yakutia. They spent much time on that work. Indeed, it was a hard mission.

Yakutia is located pretty far away and, moreover, it’s huge and impossible to travel across in a short span of time and see all exotic things at once. What to do?

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This morning we had -42C in Yakutsk, Yakutia, Siberia / Russia. At last, real winter arrived.

See today’s photographs of the extreme cold winter… and stay tuned, as the day is not over yet. More pictures are coming.

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A friend of mine, Vyacheslav Ipatiev, who is the founder and CEO of YakutiaTravel LLC, has developed a new unique route for extreme cold hunters.

He gives a chance to embark an adventure journey on reindeer sleds across the Valley of Oymyakon, one of the coldest parts of Yakutia, Siberia / Russia.

10-day sledding in the Siberian extreme cold weather. From the village of Uchugey to the village of Oymyakon. The temp is as low as -55 C or even less. And, yeah, night spending in nomads’ sleeping bags in nomads’ tents. In short, it’s the coolest expedition experience!

Cold hunting trip description is available here.

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This morning I went out for a regular dog walk. With Ogonyok, 1-yo Yakutian laika (learn more about this dog breed), we headed to the anabranch of the Lena River located just in front of the block I live in.

In summer, it is visited mostly by city people striving for swimming. In winter, it becomes a sort of Mecca for ice fishermen. This day was not exception. On the ice, we spotted a dozen of men sitting with rods and bending over holes.

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Today, October 27, 2011:

October 26, 2011:

October is a very controversial month in terms of weather. On October 1st of the current year, Yakutsk had intensive snowing. We could say, Oh, winter arrived, but it might sound as a big delusion. In a few days, snow melted and the golden autumn got back and, moreover, it returned with summer-like rains.

This week was also crazy. On Monday and Tuesday, it was above zero. Today, Thursday, it’s already -17C and yesterday -3C with real winter blizzard. Do you think it is the climate change effect? Actually not. Usual October. Though many say winter came late this year.

No more words. Keep watching this year’s winter start in progress. I put all my pics together in the reverse chronology so you could feel the difference or its absence. Photographs were mainly done by different mobile cameras and shared @yakutia on Twitter and on my personal fb page.

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