Travel to the Arctic Circle in Naryan-Mar (47 photos)

We present to your attention a photo story about traveling beyond the Arctic Circle, to the Nenets city of Naryan-Mar by car. A brief tour of the city and an attempt to get back were made by photoblogger Frederick Taer. Attention - the author's vocabulary and spelling have been preserved.

Source: LJ/frederick-taer

Naryan-Mar (Nenets - Red City), the administrative center of the Nenets Autonomous Okrug. Located beyond the Arctic Circle, at the mouth of the river. Pechora, 110 km of the Pechora Sea. Twenty-five thousand people live there.

Today you will see in detail what a winter road is - a road, the operation of which is possible only in winter conditions, at sub-zero temperatures. Winter roads are common in Siberia and the Far North, in swampy regions, in areas where there are no bridges over numerous streams and rivers, and in other difficult-to-reach conditions. Winter roads are often used to deliver cargo and equipment to oil and gas fields. To build a winter road, the snow is compacted and raked with graders, and ice crossings are frozen on the rivers.

1) Noon, outside -24. We slowly crawl towards Syktyvkar. There is nothing around, just trees and snow.

2) Ukhta. It's -10 outside. It snows just like that. What a bad time. He'll cover everything up and we won't get through. The forecast promises zero, and then even -40.

3) In front of Sosnogorsk, some kind of stream flowed along the road. There were no options - we drove along it. After a forced boost, we had to stop and chip away the ice from the wheels, mudguards and wings. There was a lot of it and it rattled like crazy as it went.

4) Snow falls and sticks to everything. Road signs are not readable at all. There are these white signs. I had to take an anti-snow brush (it’s good that it extends), climb into the snowdrift and clean the largest of them. As it turned out, it was in vain.

5) On the approach to Vuktyl, due to the profile of the road similar to the top of the letter “o”, a pilot error occurred at 80 km/h. The photo was taken from the direction we came from, which, however, can be seen from the footprints.

6) We are in Usinsk (emphasis on the “u”). True, we were told that, of course, we would not get to Naryan-Mar: we needed a more serious vehicle - well, this was already told to us before the road to Nizhmozero, which, by the way, we completely passed. In short, it was decided to get to the beginning of the NM winter road and at least see what it was like. At the same time cross the Arctic Circle. Moreover, there is an asphalt road there. So, it’s -20 outside again, but... I used to think that the saying “if a crow flies tail first, there’s a strong wind outside” was a joke.

7) Snow is removed immediately, and not like ours.

8) It also happens.

9) We moved north. The landscape outside the window was very oil and gas, and the further we went, the more it got worse.

10) The weather was improving. More precisely, the clouds were blowing away. The luminous ring around the sun was clearly visible - well, yesterday it was 0, and today it was -20.

11) Seasonal forests.

12) Reached the Arctic Circle. Here they are, two different signs in one place. It's -20 outside, and the wind is clearly over 10 m/s. You freeze in the moment.

13) Two types of trees: birch and larch. The sun is still to the west, and we are to the north.

14) The tundra begins like this: once - and there are no more trees. Just torches. The most popular name of the stream here is... correctly - Nameless. Three of them crossed within a kilometer.

15) Associated gas flare. A thing that illuminates the entire North-Eastern Europe and Western Siberia. Everyone who sees it immediately takes it off.

16) We wanted to refuel in Kharyaga, but the gas station was draining gasoline. We discovered another unit on low pressure tires. We didn’t wait, we still have 40 liters in reserve, we won’t go to waste.

17) We reached the end of the road and found the departmental winter road "Pechoraneft". We talked to the men at the checkpoint: they said that maybe we will get through, we have a chance. You need to get to the first post of the Naryan-Mar winter road - it’s 22 km - and ask there. Let's go, let's see!

18) I must say that the NM winter road made a great impression on the inexperienced me. I used to think that a winter road is either a place where people just drive in the winter, when everything is frozen, or first they trample down the snow with tractors, and then everyone drives. This is not the case here.

19) The snow is trampled by tractors, poured with boiling water and then leveled with such cast iron ingots and stakes are placed. It turns out to be a real wide ice road, although wavy in places. With every snowfall it gets better, and some crazy people break through it right up to May (in 6x6 KAMAZ trucks, of course).

20) We reached the first post. Such a trailer of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, hidden behind a bulk mountain of snow (so as not to blow) and a barrier. They asked what about Naryan-Mar. They tell us: we don’t know, decide for yourself to go or not. All you need to do to go is sign up for the magazine.

21) Filling the canister was not so easy. The wind is getting stronger and stronger. As a result, we missed five out of twenty liters. While they were filling the canister, and then filming these shots, my right hand actually froze. Then I kept her under the stove for about 15 minutes.

22) Let's see how people travel to Naryan-Mar here. In fact, it turned out that, due to the undulation of the winter road, people travel here for 40-50 km.

23) The winter road went on not from blue ice, but from brown. And the reflective tape on the poles disappeared.

24) A miracle has happened, we are entering Naryan-Mar. Well, who would have thought.

25) On the street we see a halo even stronger than yesterday. The car started up in a warm garage with half a turn. The temperature difference with the street is about sixty degrees.

26) We go towards the center. The airport is already awake.

27) New building of the local history museum.

28) The post office building is a symbol of Naryan-Mar.

29) Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker.

30) Poor pigeons huddle close to the Eternal Flame. Over thirty outside.

31) Church of the Epiphany.

32) All that remains of Pustozersk.

33) We went to a department store - prices were twice as high as in Moscow.

34) We looked at the consequences of a fire in the Arctic. And they set off on the opposite course.

35) There is even some vegetation near the city

36) Tundra

37) There are such transitions. On the concrete road we encountered two large lines, one medium-sized one and many small ones.

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39) It’s beautiful outside the window. Need I say that the wind continues to get stronger?

40) Strengthening begins to bring a concrete result: it gets dark, visibility drops, and the road now looks like this.

41) Pay attention to the Sun.

42) On this joyful note, we drove up to the winter road and entered it.

43) We have passed the winter road and are standing at the first post.

44) The landscape has changed. The same tundra, the same night... But the whole tundra is in the blue lights of drilling sites, in the bright reflections of torches. Drilling rigs are everywhere.

45) Let's go south!

46) We moved to Pechora. That's her, by the way, in the background. The length of the ice crossing is more than a kilometer.

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