Oymyakon-The coldest town in the world

[knocker]

Siberia in winter is the embodiment of beauty and the beast. The fairytale vistas are deceptive, Nature playing a femme fatale to lure you into a world barely fit for human habitation. This is a place of such searing cold that it bites through multiple layers of clothing as if they aren't there.

 

Hence Siberia's reputation as a land of woe, which is, of course, historically justified. The highway, the M56, has another name. Russians have dubbed it 'the road built on bones' because it was constructed by inmates of Stalin's gulags, who froze to death and couldn't be buried in the rock-hard ground, so their skeletons were used as ballast for the road.

 

Construction started in the 1920s on the Pacific coast at Magadan and moved slowly inland. The road stretches for more than 1,200 kilometres and they say that every metre cost a human life. It was the discovery of gold in this part of Siberia -the Sakha Republic or Yakutia -that inspired the building of the road. Before that.there were just the trees and a few nomadic reindeer herders.

 

Oymyakon, the world's coldest town, probably originated as a seasonal settlement where herders spent the summer on the banks of the lndigirka River. They were encouraged to stay put when collectivisation was introduced during the 1930s.Today, it's a quiet little town of about 550 inhabitants, with its own power station, a school, two shops and a small hospital.

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2266374/Oymyakon-coldest-village-earth-Temperatures-drop-71-2C-locals-wear-glasses-freeze-faces-school-shuts-falls-52C.html

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2280650/Oymyakon-coldest-village-earth-Weather-takes-turn-worse-71C-Russian-hamlet.html

Edited July 27, 2014 by knocker

[Nick L]

They traversed this route on an episode of World's Most Dangerous Roads. Quite harrowing the story of its construction.

[AderynCoch]

I saw a news report from Oymyakon not long back, where the teacher was considering having class outside because the temperature was a balmy -30C. Just goes to show how adaptable humans are.

 

I recall reading an article where a British journalist travelled to Yakutsk in the dead of winter. He was amazed at how these old women could stand outside for hours at a market stall, yet one of them said they preferred it to European winters because of the lack of wind. I suppose the humidity is very low there too.

[Polar Maritime]

Sounds a lovely place to live 

[phil nw.]

They traversed this route on an episode of World's Most Dangerous Roads. Quite harrowing the story of its construction.

Yes i remember that Nick.

There's a number of video clips on you tube-this one from Sky News

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZjfScL_wRE

 

 

 

[cheeky_monkey]

I saw a news report from Oymyakon not long back, where the teacher was considering having class outside because the temperature was a balmy -30C. Just goes to show how adaptable humans are.

 

I recall reading an article where a British journalist travelled to Yakutsk in the dead of winter. He was amazed at how these old women could stand outside for hours at a market stall, yet one of them said they preferred it to European winters because of the lack of wind. I suppose the humidity is very low there too.

When I lived in Edmonton recess for kids was always outside unless the temperature fell below -23c