Dimitri and Karl reached the village of Nashken Tuesday 4/24 at night (Russian time) and will be leaving at the earliest tomorrow (Friday morning) Russian time. I was able to reach him at the school principles office.
They are staying an extra day at doctor's orders due to Dimitri injuries on his feet. He had terrible blisters which have left him with raw open skin and he doesn't want to chance infection.
They are changing their route to save a little time and heading inland from here directly towards Anguema. He said this next section should take about 3 weeks so we won't hear from him for a while.
Aside from his feet everything seems to be going pretty well for them. They are turning inland because the winter 'road' they have been traveling on has not been saving them any real time so they may as well take the most direct route.
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Friday, April 20, 2007
Nexus Expedition arrives in Enormino
Dimitri called late last night 4/13(Friday night - Russian time. They have arrived in Enormino. They will be staying there through today (Saturday - Russia) and departing Sunday morning.
They seem to be doing well, though they did get caught in a pretty severe storm on the way to Enormino and had to remain in their tents for about 36 hours. They both need to do some repairs on their tents and do a presentation at the local school.
The next village they will reach is going to be Nashken and they anticipated to arrive there Thursday or Friday.
They seem to be doing well, though they did get caught in a pretty severe storm on the way to Enormino and had to remain in their tents for about 36 hours. They both need to do some repairs on their tents and do a presentation at the local school.
The next village they will reach is going to be Nashken and they anticipated to arrive there Thursday or Friday.
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Nexus Expedition in Inchon, Russia
Dimitri called this morning 4/12/2007 and gave the following update.
Dimitri and Karl Bushby are presently in the town called Inchon,
at the GPS coordinates: N66 17.7816 / W170 16.686.
They arrived in Uelen after a 10 hr. Vezdehod ride (their 3 vezdehod caravan was delayed 3 hours for the repair of one of the vehicles) at about 8:30 pm Wednesday, April 12th (Russian Time). They spent the night in the police station, ironically the same place they slept upon arriving in Uelen April of last year after completion of the Bering strait crossing. Upon arising they met with the border guards, got their paper work approved and FINALLY began trekking.
They started on the trail at about 10am and arrived in Inchon at about 8pm, covering approximately 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) of terrain. Dimitri said the weather was good, about 6 degrees Celsius, and the ice was nice and solid. They passed a number of mushers along the way, commuting to Uelen or back for supplies. They also came across a few stray dogs which had apparently been let go from the sleds for being too slow. One of the passerby's happened to be the Mayor of Inchon in a vezdehod who graciously welcomed them and offered them a place to stay in town for the night.
Apparently their arrival had been pre-announced for a few miles outside of town they were greeted by a large group of very excited young boys.
They are planning to give a talk to the children early in the morning before they begin the day's trekking. Tonight (Friday-Russia) will be their first night actually sleeping on the trail. On the following night, they might sleep in a cabin that they have been informed upon.
The next village is about 3-4 days trekking and they may be slowed down a bit by a big storm that's supposed to be blowing in to their region in the next few days.
Dimitri sounded in high very high spirits and said it's been a good beginning, even though they were both definitely feeling the pains of adjustment as they drug their 240 lb sleds over two steep hills along the way. He likened himself to the 18 wheelers you see struggling to make it over the mountain pass - though he assured me that in no time at all they'd be trading up to race car shape.
He's a bit nervous of the weather conditions they will face upon arriving in Anadyr, but for now everything seems good.
Dimitri and Karl Bushby are presently in the town called Inchon,
at the GPS coordinates: N66 17.7816 / W170 16.686.
They arrived in Uelen after a 10 hr. Vezdehod ride (their 3 vezdehod caravan was delayed 3 hours for the repair of one of the vehicles) at about 8:30 pm Wednesday, April 12th (Russian Time). They spent the night in the police station, ironically the same place they slept upon arriving in Uelen April of last year after completion of the Bering strait crossing. Upon arising they met with the border guards, got their paper work approved and FINALLY began trekking.
They started on the trail at about 10am and arrived in Inchon at about 8pm, covering approximately 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) of terrain. Dimitri said the weather was good, about 6 degrees Celsius, and the ice was nice and solid. They passed a number of mushers along the way, commuting to Uelen or back for supplies. They also came across a few stray dogs which had apparently been let go from the sleds for being too slow. One of the passerby's happened to be the Mayor of Inchon in a vezdehod who graciously welcomed them and offered them a place to stay in town for the night.
Apparently their arrival had been pre-announced for a few miles outside of town they were greeted by a large group of very excited young boys.
They are planning to give a talk to the children early in the morning before they begin the day's trekking. Tonight (Friday-Russia) will be their first night actually sleeping on the trail. On the following night, they might sleep in a cabin that they have been informed upon.
The next village is about 3-4 days trekking and they may be slowed down a bit by a big storm that's supposed to be blowing in to their region in the next few days.
Dimitri sounded in high very high spirits and said it's been a good beginning, even though they were both definitely feeling the pains of adjustment as they drug their 240 lb sleds over two steep hills along the way. He likened himself to the 18 wheelers you see struggling to make it over the mountain pass - though he assured me that in no time at all they'd be trading up to race car shape.
He's a bit nervous of the weather conditions they will face upon arriving in Anadyr, but for now everything seems good.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Anadyr preparations March 17th - April 5th
March 17, 2007- April 5th 2007
Anadyr – Autonomous Region of Chukotka – Russian Federation
Karl and I spent the month commuting back and forth between the town of Anadyr and our rented flat in Ugolnye Kopi.
Here are some of the issues we had to address:
- Met with the Chukchi guide and musher Nikolai Ettyne who was designated as our official escort for our trek across Chukotka. Nikolai is not required to escort us on the ground but needs to be kept informed of our status as we enter and depart from each village/town along our way. We will also need to be able to call him in the event of an emergency.
Originally from the Northern village of Nashken and well informed of the section Uelen-Anadyr, Nikolai helped us set up a final route plan and schedule.
- Met with the Chukotkan search and rescue and explained to them our planned schedule and route through Chukotka. They requested from us a signed letter for the Chukotkavia airline where we would guarantee that we would be responsible to pay for all expenses in the event of an airlifted evacuation anywhere along our Uelen-Omsukchan trail since we are going to cross very remote regions.
- Met with Gema Gi-Ukai, a Chukchi hunter and fisherman from Chuvanskaya who helped us establish a summer route plan for the section Anadyr-Markova-Omolon. (He was not too excited I must say, to see us attempt this route in Summer months, when it is very swampy, crowded with brown bears, and infested with huge amount of mosquitoes) …
- Met with the local journalists to conduct interviews for the local Anadyr Television News and for the national Russia Today TV show.
- Organized the shipping of our fully load sleds to Lavrentiya and some of our supplies to Uelen.
- Identified an ideal storage facility for the rest of our supplies, thanks to our contact at the Canadian construction company Ferguson Simey Clark who was gracious enough to offer us some space in a tight container, away from any potential rats.
- Attempted on multiple occasions to retrieve our confiscated technical equipment from the customs office, using multiple documents provided to us by Nikolai Ettyne.
- Placed an advertisement on the local television and contacted with the help of our friends Svetlana Gobuleva and governmental official John Mann, countless city, state administrative offices (e-g: Search &Rescue department, Agricultural dept, reindeer stations, port authorities) as well as gas, gold mining and construction companies to identify a potential satellite phone for us to borrow, rent or buy, and therefore allowing us to depart. In the end, we were able to successfully identify a Globalstar Russian Satellite phone that we are taking with us and which can only be used in the event of an emergency.
- Prepared a joint presentation for Goliath and Nexus expeditions which we presented at the school in Ugolnye Kopi. We have already been asked to present as well along the way to the students in the villages that we will be crossing.
- Spent time at the local game arcade where we could find the fastest internet connection allowing us to send pictures and emails back home.
- Worked through the complex Russian postal system to be able to send overseas disks of pictures taken around town. In comparison to last year, where our cameras were not returned to us until the day of our departure, this time, we were fully able to shoot wherever we pleased.
I very much enjoyed photographing the colorful city of Anadyr who has been recently renovated with the help of Governor Roman Abramovich administration and financial backup.
I often tend to compare it to either a giant Legoland with all of its freshly painted bright buildings or a mini Hong Kong, where one can only see buildings crammed together on a piece of rock. I also enjoyed taking shots of all the classic Soviet and newer murals that are quite visible across town. However, they were limits to this new photographic freedom we were experiencing and one day I came to realize it very clearly. While I was taking what I consider an artistic photography of a classic Russian coal smokestack with a Russian flag next to it, I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around and identify a border guard who asked me immediately to follow him to the nearest local administrative customs office for interrogation. Unbeknownst to me, when I was photographing the flag, I did not see that on the side of it and not present on my photograph, was the local administrative customs office. After an hour of questioning with multiple “interviewers”, I was asked to delete the pictures in question and free to go!
In between of all of the tasks mentioned above, Karl and I also took on the opportunity to visit a few old and newer friends, such as:
- attending a festive birthday party for our Aprasian journalist friend Vladimir Sinothkin in the communication building, as well as visiting Nail Buranbayev and Vita Anaka, a Baishkir-Eskimo couple who have become good friends of mine ever since last year.
- go ice fishing, graciously invited by our landlord/driver Pavel Yashkin. We left Ugolnye Kopi on a -30 celsius crisp and sunny Sunday morning at 7am to go and join hundreds of Anadyr residents screwing holes in the ice with massive folded 6 feet long screwdrivers and fishing for small yet tasty sardine looking fishes. It was a fascinating experience to see all of these men and a few women on the ice, somewhat together, yet somewhat isolated, each of them near his or her fishing hole in the middle of the hazy fog.
It was interesting as well to see all types of vehicles on top of this frozen bay such as brand new Japanese SUVs, police “Volkswagen looking” minivans, antic soviet snowmobiles and military vezedhods (“Go Everywhere” all terrain tracked vehicles), all used by Sunday fishermen transport themselves on to their fishing spots.It was also a great way for me to get re-acclimated with arctic temperatures and learn new ice fishing skills!Although, when I mentioned to Karl the benefits of this new experience that might come handy on our trek, he quickly responded: “Sure, I will let you carry the 20 lbs screwdriver on your sled!” Karl and I also took countless meals in one of the two cafes where we spent most of our days preparing documents, presentations and emails.
The reason why we could not spend much time in our flat between meetings is that Anadyr city is located on one side of the bay and the airport where we had our flat on the other.
Crossing the bay each way was costing us 300 roubles per head and this is why we were not prepared to do more than one commute per day. There is no bridge cross the large bay. In winter time, one can drive across the bay on a road literally built on the ice and take a barge in Summer time. In late Spring and early fall, the only mode of transportation to the airport becomes then either an helicopter ride or a ride on a van that has been modified with huge floating tires. Despite this inconvenience, the airport was built across the bay because it was historically an important military airport and the authorities wanted to separate that potential target from the civilian habitations.
Anadyr airport located in Ugolnye Kopi was in deed an important base for the US armed forces during World War II while fighting the Japanese forces in the Pacific and later on became an important location to keep Soviet MIGS during the Cold War in light of a potential strike on US grounds.
That’s it for now. I will send more later…
Anadyr – Autonomous Region of Chukotka – Russian Federation
Karl and I spent the month commuting back and forth between the town of Anadyr and our rented flat in Ugolnye Kopi.
Here are some of the issues we had to address:
- Met with the Chukchi guide and musher Nikolai Ettyne who was designated as our official escort for our trek across Chukotka. Nikolai is not required to escort us on the ground but needs to be kept informed of our status as we enter and depart from each village/town along our way. We will also need to be able to call him in the event of an emergency.
Originally from the Northern village of Nashken and well informed of the section Uelen-Anadyr, Nikolai helped us set up a final route plan and schedule.
- Met with the Chukotkan search and rescue and explained to them our planned schedule and route through Chukotka. They requested from us a signed letter for the Chukotkavia airline where we would guarantee that we would be responsible to pay for all expenses in the event of an airlifted evacuation anywhere along our Uelen-Omsukchan trail since we are going to cross very remote regions.
- Met with Gema Gi-Ukai, a Chukchi hunter and fisherman from Chuvanskaya who helped us establish a summer route plan for the section Anadyr-Markova-Omolon. (He was not too excited I must say, to see us attempt this route in Summer months, when it is very swampy, crowded with brown bears, and infested with huge amount of mosquitoes) …
- Met with the local journalists to conduct interviews for the local Anadyr Television News and for the national Russia Today TV show.
- Organized the shipping of our fully load sleds to Lavrentiya and some of our supplies to Uelen.
- Identified an ideal storage facility for the rest of our supplies, thanks to our contact at the Canadian construction company Ferguson Simey Clark who was gracious enough to offer us some space in a tight container, away from any potential rats.
- Attempted on multiple occasions to retrieve our confiscated technical equipment from the customs office, using multiple documents provided to us by Nikolai Ettyne.
- Placed an advertisement on the local television and contacted with the help of our friends Svetlana Gobuleva and governmental official John Mann, countless city, state administrative offices (e-g: Search &Rescue department, Agricultural dept, reindeer stations, port authorities) as well as gas, gold mining and construction companies to identify a potential satellite phone for us to borrow, rent or buy, and therefore allowing us to depart. In the end, we were able to successfully identify a Globalstar Russian Satellite phone that we are taking with us and which can only be used in the event of an emergency.
- Prepared a joint presentation for Goliath and Nexus expeditions which we presented at the school in Ugolnye Kopi. We have already been asked to present as well along the way to the students in the villages that we will be crossing.
- Spent time at the local game arcade where we could find the fastest internet connection allowing us to send pictures and emails back home.
- Worked through the complex Russian postal system to be able to send overseas disks of pictures taken around town. In comparison to last year, where our cameras were not returned to us until the day of our departure, this time, we were fully able to shoot wherever we pleased.
I very much enjoyed photographing the colorful city of Anadyr who has been recently renovated with the help of Governor Roman Abramovich administration and financial backup.
I often tend to compare it to either a giant Legoland with all of its freshly painted bright buildings or a mini Hong Kong, where one can only see buildings crammed together on a piece of rock. I also enjoyed taking shots of all the classic Soviet and newer murals that are quite visible across town. However, they were limits to this new photographic freedom we were experiencing and one day I came to realize it very clearly. While I was taking what I consider an artistic photography of a classic Russian coal smokestack with a Russian flag next to it, I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around and identify a border guard who asked me immediately to follow him to the nearest local administrative customs office for interrogation. Unbeknownst to me, when I was photographing the flag, I did not see that on the side of it and not present on my photograph, was the local administrative customs office. After an hour of questioning with multiple “interviewers”, I was asked to delete the pictures in question and free to go!
In between of all of the tasks mentioned above, Karl and I also took on the opportunity to visit a few old and newer friends, such as:
- attending a festive birthday party for our Aprasian journalist friend Vladimir Sinothkin in the communication building, as well as visiting Nail Buranbayev and Vita Anaka, a Baishkir-Eskimo couple who have become good friends of mine ever since last year.
- go ice fishing, graciously invited by our landlord/driver Pavel Yashkin. We left Ugolnye Kopi on a -30 celsius crisp and sunny Sunday morning at 7am to go and join hundreds of Anadyr residents screwing holes in the ice with massive folded 6 feet long screwdrivers and fishing for small yet tasty sardine looking fishes. It was a fascinating experience to see all of these men and a few women on the ice, somewhat together, yet somewhat isolated, each of them near his or her fishing hole in the middle of the hazy fog.
It was interesting as well to see all types of vehicles on top of this frozen bay such as brand new Japanese SUVs, police “Volkswagen looking” minivans, antic soviet snowmobiles and military vezedhods (“Go Everywhere” all terrain tracked vehicles), all used by Sunday fishermen transport themselves on to their fishing spots.It was also a great way for me to get re-acclimated with arctic temperatures and learn new ice fishing skills!Although, when I mentioned to Karl the benefits of this new experience that might come handy on our trek, he quickly responded: “Sure, I will let you carry the 20 lbs screwdriver on your sled!” Karl and I also took countless meals in one of the two cafes where we spent most of our days preparing documents, presentations and emails.
The reason why we could not spend much time in our flat between meetings is that Anadyr city is located on one side of the bay and the airport where we had our flat on the other.
Crossing the bay each way was costing us 300 roubles per head and this is why we were not prepared to do more than one commute per day. There is no bridge cross the large bay. In winter time, one can drive across the bay on a road literally built on the ice and take a barge in Summer time. In late Spring and early fall, the only mode of transportation to the airport becomes then either an helicopter ride or a ride on a van that has been modified with huge floating tires. Despite this inconvenience, the airport was built across the bay because it was historically an important military airport and the authorities wanted to separate that potential target from the civilian habitations.
Anadyr airport located in Ugolnye Kopi was in deed an important base for the US armed forces during World War II while fighting the Japanese forces in the Pacific and later on became an important location to keep Soviet MIGS during the Cold War in light of a potential strike on US grounds.
That’s it for now. I will send more later…
Lavrentiya: Storm update
Just received a report from Dimitri. He still awaits transport to the point at which he and Karl Bushby will resume the circumnavigation.
From Dimitri:
Very frustrating out here. The storm "Purga" is stronger. The whole town shut down. Today school is closed and no one is working. "Actierovanyi den" : Inactive day
I have seen tiles flying out of a roof, and try to capture a bit of the storm on camera. Needless to say, we are not leaving for Uelen yet on the Vezdehod. According to what the priest Leonid told me: "The vezdehod drivers don't want to take the risk to get stuck in the mountains on the way to Uelen for multiple days with the 5-6 female Uelen teachers returning to their village."
Not sure when the storm is going to come down but it might last a while. Quite frustrating. Karl and I are like two dogs at the start of the Iditarod, ready to go go go....
Good bye everyone,
Dimitri
From Dimitri:
Very frustrating out here. The storm "Purga" is stronger. The whole town shut down. Today school is closed and no one is working. "Actierovanyi den" : Inactive day
I have seen tiles flying out of a roof, and try to capture a bit of the storm on camera. Needless to say, we are not leaving for Uelen yet on the Vezdehod. According to what the priest Leonid told me: "The vezdehod drivers don't want to take the risk to get stuck in the mountains on the way to Uelen for multiple days with the 5-6 female Uelen teachers returning to their village."
Not sure when the storm is going to come down but it might last a while. Quite frustrating. Karl and I are like two dogs at the start of the Iditarod, ready to go go go....
Good bye everyone,
Dimitri
Sunday, April 8, 2007
Lavrentiya: waiting to depart for Uelen...
Quick update from Dimitri:
"We have been told that we will depart tomorrow morning, for Uelen, at 9am for the 6-8hrs ride in the vezdehod (“go everywhere”) all terrain track vehicles…consuming 1 liter of gas per kilometer! The ride has been offered to us and our loaded sleds generously by the regional administration, which received a letter from the deputy governor Andrei Gorodilov to look after us.
This letter has been sent to all local administrations. However, I just found out that we are going to be in a convoy of 3 vezdehods and the third one will be occupied by FSB (Overview in Wikipedia) (FSB official site, in Russian) members who are going to escort us to Uelen.
The storm is supposed to last a few more days. You can follow it at the following sites: Lavrentiya: Russian Weather site
Uelen: Russian Weather site
Check the speed of wind in meters per second and the temperatures in Celsius. Last night we recorded a wind speed of 30 knots with a south bound wind. This is going to make the first few days of trekking interesting, since we will be going Northwest…"
Uelen is the point where Dimitri Kieffer and Karl Bushby will resume their expedition on foot. Last year the expedition was interrupted by confusion over their proper entry into the country via crossing the Bering strait. See article describing the Bering Strait crossing: Seattle Times, Boston News, New York Times.
See below the map of the route from Lavrentiya to Uelen that they will complete in Vezdehod with their sleds strapped on top of these all terrain vehicles, in order to go to their official start in Uelen.
"We have been told that we will depart tomorrow morning, for Uelen, at 9am for the 6-8hrs ride in the vezdehod (“go everywhere”) all terrain track vehicles…consuming 1 liter of gas per kilometer! The ride has been offered to us and our loaded sleds generously by the regional administration, which received a letter from the deputy governor Andrei Gorodilov to look after us.
This letter has been sent to all local administrations. However, I just found out that we are going to be in a convoy of 3 vezdehods and the third one will be occupied by FSB (Overview in Wikipedia) (FSB official site, in Russian) members who are going to escort us to Uelen.
The storm is supposed to last a few more days. You can follow it at the following sites: Lavrentiya: Russian Weather site
Uelen: Russian Weather site
Check the speed of wind in meters per second and the temperatures in Celsius. Last night we recorded a wind speed of 30 knots with a south bound wind. This is going to make the first few days of trekking interesting, since we will be going Northwest…"
Uelen is the point where Dimitri Kieffer and Karl Bushby will resume their expedition on foot. Last year the expedition was interrupted by confusion over their proper entry into the country via crossing the Bering strait. See article describing the Bering Strait crossing: Seattle Times, Boston News, New York Times.
See below the map of the route from Lavrentiya to Uelen that they will complete in Vezdehod with their sleds strapped on top of these all terrain vehicles, in order to go to their official start in Uelen.
Friday, April 6, 2007
Nexus Expedition's start halted by storm
Dimitri and Karl couldn't push through the storm to Uelen yesterday. Uelen is the town where they were stopped on April 1st 2006 after having completed the crossing of the Bering Strait from Wales to Uelen.
The storm is currently so strong that the driver of the Vezdehod does not want to take the risk to transport them across the tundra from Lavrentiya to Uelen.
They probaly will have to wait until Monday to head to Uelen.
Dimitri has limited connectivity so he will be giving us what he can and snail mailing his diaries on disk.
The storm is currently so strong that the driver of the Vezdehod does not want to take the risk to transport them across the tundra from Lavrentiya to Uelen.
They probaly will have to wait until Monday to head to Uelen.
Dimitri has limited connectivity so he will be giving us what he can and snail mailing his diaries on disk.
Thursday, April 5, 2007
Nexus Expedition Resumes in Russia
Dimitri Kieffer and Karl Bushby are presently in Lavrentiya and planning on taking a vezdehod (all terrain vehicle) to Uelen tomorrow morning. If it all goes according to plan, tomorrow should be their first night on the trail. They have a blizzard blowing in, but it sounds like that's a bi-weekly occurrence so they're not going to let it stand in their way. 
Dimitri won't be able to communicate except when he is in villages, so it may be a few weeks before we hear from him again. We just hope that they are able to cover as much ground as they planned on.
On foot they will be pulling a 240 lb sled for 15 miles, every day, just to get up and do it again, and again, and again for 135days.
Dimitri won't be able to communicate except when he is in villages, so it may be a few weeks before we hear from him again. We just hope that they are able to cover as much ground as they planned on.
On foot they will be pulling a 240 lb sled for 15 miles, every day, just to get up and do it again, and again, and again for 135days.
With the border guards and the polar bears in consideration. it seems that the weather should be the least of their worries.
See the map of the section of the expedition they will be covering over the next months, on there way from Uelen to Magadan.Erik Nachtrieb and Ilima Smallwood
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