*Click the picture to see it in the full size.

This is our New Year tree on the main square called Lenin in Yakutsk, Siberia / Russia. A photo was taken at 12:10 pm.

Cold? Foggy? Looks festive? Ho ho ho, this is our winter holiday mood. That’s the coldest city on Earth!

As far as you know, Russia celebrates the Happy New Year holidays mostly. According to the Russian Orthodox Church calendar, Christmas takes place on January 7th. Actually, it’s not a big event. Worshiped by church goers only, though it is a good reason to have a day off.

So, when you see a tree, that looks more like a Christmas one, you know now, it’s the New Year tree.

Have great holidays, folks! Though I know your Christmas is already over.

Last months I was pretty much busy with the arrangement of travels, expeditions and tours across the Sakha Republic (Yakutia), but, praise god, I’ve never forgot to take my camera along.

So, here is some picks of winter travel photographies. In the following set you can see Russia’s Siberian city of Yakutsk, street photographs, the ice road across the Lena River, trucks stuck in the ice, the man cutting ice cubes for drinking water, fogs, city monuments, the Christmas / New Year tree, kids, etc.

Lenin Square in the above photo.

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As you already noted, I am a big fan of Ajar Varlamov‘s photographs. This post with his images is already the 30th.

The previous photo post with Ajar’s pictures was dedicated to the season shift from summer to autumn in Yakutsk, Russia. If you didn’t see it, you need to check it and come back to this post to continue following cold weather progress in the city considered to be the coldest on Earth.

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Ajar Varlamov (his posts), whose many photographs you’ve seen previously, has two big passions. Initially, it was to carry his Nikon camera all the time and everywhere. A few years ago, his second passion became Marisha, Yakutian laika (dog breed originated in Yakutia’s Kolyma area).

Guess his major habit… Any ideas?.. Right, as you might have noted, that’s his daily dog walk on the field called Zelenyj Lug (Green Meadow). So, if you are his friend, you can see his daily local nature pictures.

Hereby, please, enjoy how fast climate changes in our area. September is the remarkable month, as it is only period, when we see autumn. In the early September it is warm, the middle already chilly, the end comes out with snow.

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Icebreak on the Lena River. Ice is floating fast on May 16th, 2012.

Location: Pokrovsk town, Central Yakutia, Sakha Republic (Yakutia), Siberia / Russia.

This is the biggest nature event in May. The end of the cold season, the start of the warm days!

See how ice is floating on the Lene River via the live webcam.

The above video was shared by ykt user REPKA.

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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In the early November, Yakutsk-based Vladimir Potapov (fb profile) arranged the winter snowmobile expedition to the Arctic zone of the Republic of Sakha-Yakutia (Siberia/Russia).

The route was Ust Kujga (map) — Kazach’e (map) — Laptev Sea.

The mission was to deliver the remains of the Yuka Mammoth from the area of the Yukagir community, Laptev Sea, to Yakutsk. It is the same place, where the famous Yukagir mammoth head was discovered seven years ago.

The Yuka mammoth corpse was found in the well-preserved condition by Vasily Gorokhov’s community four years ago. It has four legs, proboscis, and wool.

The expedition was filmed by BBC TV Channel and scheduled to be on the air on February 25th, 2012. It will be a 60-min story.

See more Arctic expedition photographs taken by Egor Fedorov.

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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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Today’s pictures are not as great and awesome as in previous posts, but they are here to show what is happening behind my window… in the Russian city of Yakutsk… and what type of weather we have currently.

Oh, by the way, we are waiting for the big wave coming from the very south of the Lena River. More waters must be. Everything seems calm at the moment.

Photographs were taken during this morning’s dog walk, the last one in the evening from my balcony.

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