Golomyanniy island Russian Polar Base, Arctic ice melting. MLAE-2011

Russian Arctic Expedition MLAE-2011. Russian Arctic Ocean ice Expedition.

Cloudless sunrise after frigidly cold night. Atmospheric pressure has gone down. Wind is out of the south. Light snowfall. It is splendidly nasty. I am sitting on Golomyanniy island Polar station. Behind are seemingly endless 24 hours of driving over shore ice belt of the island Oktyabrskoy Revolyucii.

Further on, closer to Sredniy island, border guards make us promise to join them tomorrow in banya. And at last, the long awaited “polyarka” Polar Base with sourdoughs – Lutchnko and Omelchenko. Anatoliy is a young father of Svetlana’s two year ols boy. He is leaving for the continent in a few days.

Igor Mihaylovich, on the contrary, has just recently entered the duty and along with two young meteorologists will remain here until spring. It partakes of homecoming. Laughing, they hand us our own forgotten here last time, towels and our two boxes full of metal scrap parts and engine oil are sitting there untouched from last visit. We will stay here for three days to do some maintenance work on vehicles and gear and to rest a bit and will head out once again. Although we are not yet certain if we will move north or south from here. Today’s task is to get in touch with all the competent sources and to get as accurate description of ice situation an movements for today.

Russians in the Arctic. Russian MLAE-2011 Expedition on
Golomyanniy island
Meteo Station
Arctic Research and Development.

We are presently on Golomyanniy.

Water is on three sides of the island. Anatoliy Omel’chenko who is here since the year 1991 and and he says that it is the very first time he sees it at this time of the year. We give ourselves two – three days to make the decision. Fortunately neither vehicles nor the gear require any serious repairs. Both Va’nkov and Zaitcev keep their restless hands busy implementing the improvements modifications thought up during the many long hours spent breaking the ice on the way. We will make the decision and we will immediately make it known to all of  you, our continental friends.

Vasily Elagin

Translated from Russian by Ilya Kovalev

Arctic Explorer Alexei Zaitcev in MLAE-2011 near Kara Sea in the Arctic Ocean. Russian Expedition to the North Pole

Yemelya-4 vehicles in Kara Sea, Arctic Ocean after night blizzard, MLAE-2011, Russian Arctic Expedition



Yemelya-4 vehicles in the Arctic after Blizzard. Russian Arctic Expedition MLAE-2011 driving from Russia to Canada over the North Pole. Arctic research and development Canada. Russia.



Russian Expedition MLAE-2011 Driving from Russia to Canada through the Arctic Ocean and the North Pole in amphibious "Yemelya" Vehicles built by Vasily Elagin. Kara Sea Arctic Ocean

MLAE-2011 Russian Arctic Exploration. Arctic expedition driving from Russia to Canada over the North Pole in amphibious Yemelya-4 vehicles. Kara Sea, Arctic Ocean

Sergey Isaev and Vladimir Obihod. Russian Arctic Expedition to the North Pole 2011 MLAE-2011

Russian Exploresr of the Arctic: Sergei Isaev and Vladimir Obihod inside Yemelya-4 amphibios vehicle.

April 17-19 2011 Russian Arctic Expedition

Arctic Sun MLAE-2011 Russian Arctic Expedition

Vladimir Obihod Arctic Explorer



Polar Bear tracks in the Arctic




Russian Arctic Expedition MLAE-2011, Arctic Explorers Vasiliy Elagin, Vladimir Obihod, Afanasiy Makovnev, Sergey Isaev, Andrei Van'kov, Aleksei Zaicev, North pole expedition, Driving to the North Pole



Arctic Polynyas, Thin Ice Yemelya Vehicles in water Russian Arctic Expedition

Kara Sea Arctic Ridges MLAE-2011, Russian Arctic Exploration, Russian Arcitic Expedition

April 16th 2011

Getting through to Severnaya Zemlya has been quite something else. Not since the Pobeda Peak have I had to work this hard. The “warm” Kara Sea apparently had no intent of letting us leave it. Though it is starting to seem as though we are finally parting. I will never forget this pond, though. The view outside is beyond what Roerich could have dreamed up. A pastel-like sunrise, day-night. Outside is bright, ridges, icebergs, shore. We think to reach Golomyanniy Island by tomorrow night. The shore ice belt is solid. Although, every time we begin to dream is exactly when s@#%* happens. We shall try, though. Wind is moderate, inside the vehicles it is warm and in our sleeping bags – even warmer. Overall everything is great.

Sergey Isaev

Translated from Russian by Ilya Kovalev 

April 15th from Elagin

We got a good night of sleep in and the weather conditions improved, as well. Visibility is decent. First few hundred meters of traveling along the floe we spend the night on were deceivingly easy and had settle in rather a worry free disposition, considering that the shores of the Novaya Zemlya archipelago were some short 17 km away. These 17 kilometers however proved to be anything but short or easy. Heavy ridges with practically no flat spaces in between them, covered with freshly blown over deep fluffy snow. Vehicles, despite of their light weight and off-road prowess, could travel no more than a 100 meters at a time without needing assistance from the men, who then themselves had to put quite a bit of effort to cover these 100 meters on foot to catch up to the vehicles. The snow cover was so deep that each step of the way could come with a surprise sinking into the deep snow sometime knee deep, sometimes all the way to the armpits. Obihod did just that, and only remained afloat by spreading his arms wide to his sides to keep himself from going further down. Both Isaev and Zaitcev had to resort to “all—wheel drive” climbing snow banks on all fours. While yours truly, would climb on top of Yemelya’s roof every 100 meters with the hope partaking of the one Lenin must have cherished long before him – of seeing the way to the brighter and better future ahead. The vehicles with the caravan of trailers in tow twist like snakes between creations of ice and winds, their shapes reminiscent of pagan idol statues of Easter Islands standing on guard of this seemingly endless, silent grandeur.

By midday we made our way through to the area of lesser density of ridges, drove for several kilometers and just as we began to relax, the Kara Sea did not fail to surprise us with a large crack in the ice right across the direction of our path. It stretched as far as we could see in both directions. We were at this point exhausted and bewildered by the previous few hours of battling the ridges and could almost smell the land so closely ahead that we decided to risk crossing afloat. One hour later we were driving again. Two hours later we raised a toast to reaching the Land.

Vasily Elagin

P.S. Odometer reading: 2754 km, Wind: easterly and quite fresh -25C, Disposition – positive.

Translated from Russian by Ilya Kovalev 

APRIL 12, MLAE-2011 Arctic Expedition

APRIL  12 2011

Yemelya vehicle's spacious interior MLAE-2011

Just 50 years passed since man first flew into space. The world back there, on the continent, has achieved amazing technological breakthroughs, and here, in our Kara Sea all remains unchanged, untouched pristine and primal as it has been for hundreds of thousands of years – the ice ridges, useful seawater, snow, wind and - though scarce this year – sun. The return back to our route has - because of unfavorable weather and terrain conditions - become a journey of itself, and tough one at that. Odometer reading of our navigator instrument is at 2715 km. The vehicles are standing up to our expectations and even exceeding them –capability of crossing tough ridged terrain is nothing short of incredible. The hull-bodies are completely watertight and amazingly spacious and comfortable for the crew day and night. Even a tall person sleeps comfortably on beds positioned across the vehicle body width for the night, shelves, drawers and all is about as well laid as in a recreational family mobile home.

Yemelya-4 vehicle easily accommodates seven man crew. MLAE-2011

Our nomadic lifestyle is tuned up at this point and we have gotten used to it. Our journey to the North continues slowly but steadily. We proceed in the following order: five men in the lead vehicle – driver, cameraman recording all the dramatic as well as not so dramatic moments for future generations to see, the sleeping body of the watchman, and two fellows who jump out of the vehicle just before every stop in front of an obstacle, grab their two ice picks off the special holders on “Yemelya’s” front bumper and let them loose on the icy obstacle.

Two men are in the following vehicle, the driver and the condolent fellow-traveler whose job is to admire the driver’s skill and to condole him through the moments of hardship. They also, root for the lead vehicle team and timt to time even ask in voices full of hope for the negative response – “Do you need help up there?” Thankfully our wise commanding authority rotates the staff of both crews daily so as to assure a well-balanced personality development of all expedition members. And thus we proceed. All the best and well-balanced to you.

Vasily Elagin

Translated from Russian by Ilya Kovalev 

April 10th 2011

As per the advice of Bychenkov from AARI (Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute)  “to look for our last chance East of us”, we did turn East and there it was. After four short hours of sleep we attacked our the ridges befringing polynya and by 1300 hours found ourselves upon the floating ice of, by now familiar to us, Kara Sea.
Many thanks for the correctly interpreted and timely delivered to us images of the ice!

We traveled on fairly uncomplicated terrain, for a while, but short lived was our joy and we very soon encountered ridges reaching out as far as the horizon. Polynya that stretched along our path to the right of us came to save the day. It was covered with ice we could drive on. But only fast, we could not stand or stop on it. Occasionally there were pitfalls. We moved along the “shore” at full throttle, solving problems like “30 degrees – water!” on the fly. Thus,  dodging water holes, we ended the day upon one cozy ice floe with the coordinates of N78° 30' and Е93°.

Vasily Elagin.

Translated from Russian by Ilya Kovalev

April 8 2011

Apr 8

I’ll keep it short today due to tiredness. The ice floe itself has drifter off, leaving us on the shore ice belt by 0430 hours on Sivash. A large bearded seal watched us as if wondering: “what are they doing wondering around here?” And we would be happy to leave ourselves, yet the Kara Sea has got a hold of us and does not let go. While our avant-garde went to off to check the ice situation around, we did a complete inventory of everything: ropes, diesel, manhood and humor. From the looks of it we are still doing alright.

Vasily Elagin. 

Translated from Russian by Ilya Kovalev 

April 7 2011

 

We are presently near Voronin Island. A tall lighthouse is visible from here, but we are separated from it by a large polynya ranging from 300 to 3000 meters in width. To cross over to the shore ice belt we need to find the place where the polynya is most narrow. Wind is out of North East and strengthening. Driving north along the polynya we find a narrowing of no more than 200 meters in width covered with thin ice. Men come out on the ice with the picks, and report back that they think the vehicles without trailers will be able to make a dash and reach the water without falling though the ice. 

Factoring in the wind we pick the spot on the other side where to get out of the water. The decision to cross afloat is made. 

We prepare the boat, the blocks, the dollies and Kevlar hawsers; we designate responsibilities and roles between members of the crew; everyone will be involved. By now the thin ice cover begins to tighten around the open water until it vanishes right before our eyes.  The water still, however, remains open to the right and to the left. Our only chance at crossing now is to drive fast over the thin ice and dive into the still uncovered water.

Ice fields close over the water completely and begin to crawl onto one another and soon become drivable The vehicles are speeding over 12 sm ice. It is sags, but holds! Now trailers. We have six of them. The “dispatcher” gives the go ahead to the first “train” consisting of three trailers. Kevlar cables are tied to the hitch of “Yemelya-4”, guide dollies with blocks are stuck into the ice and the “train” is underway. Going over a stretch of thin ice the trailers fall through it and are now floating on their tires. Our team gets to pulling the cables by hand to help “Yemelya” and eventually the trailers with our food, fuel and personal belongings roll out of the water and onto the ice. All things are safe, secure and dry in the water tight plastic barrels. Second train overcomes shorter distances  from one ice field to another. We gather all the metal gear.

Translated from Russian by Ilya Kovalev 

MLAE-2011 Kara Sea, Pancake Ice. Vasily Elagin

APRIL 6 2011

Yemelya-4 crossing open water in Kara Sea, Arctic Ocean. MLAE-2011

Yemelya-3 sliding off into polynya, Kara Sea, Arctic Ocean. MLAE2011

The expedition has covered 2558 km since leaving Urengoy. We are currently at the latitude of Voronin island and seven kilometers to the east from it. In front of us is polynya. It separates us from the long-awaited shore ice belt which we believe continues all the way to Sredniy island. Last three days were spent battling the ridges and polynyas. We had never before in all of our preceding expeditions to the Arctic encountered such density of obstacles per kilometer. Kara Sea fast tracked our new recruits’ apprenticeship course. Each day requires the use of the entire arsenal of our ice ridge negotiation instruments.

Ladder driving course.
In the Kara Sea we encountered a thoroughly new to us type of obstacle: fields of pancake ice with round “pancakes” from 5 to 20 meters in diameter, with icy snow fringes, some over a meter tall. Between them – cracks up to a meter deep. Driving over these, “pancakes” is and experience you wouldn’t wish to your worst of enemies, not to mention our beloved “Red” and “Green” buggies. They drive over this horrible terrain in first and second gear while managing to pull three trailers after them, which puts great strains on their transmissions. But thus far the machines are handling it well. We all miss our friends and relatives and send greetings to everyone back home.

Vasily Elagin.

Translated from Russian by Ilya Kovalev

Ice shifting around Russkiy Island in Kara Sea of Arctic Ocean. MLAE-2011 Russian Arctic Expedition

Russian Arctic infrastructure 1961 lighthouse in Kara Sea MLAE-2011

Ridges forming in Kara Sea. Russia Arctic Expedition MLAE-2011

MARCH 27^th 2011

We lost four days in the vicinity of Russkiy island due to extremely unfavorable ice movements. Southerly wind shifted the ice away from the Nordenshel’d Archipelago and we therefore still have not had the chance to cross over to the drifting ice cap. Barometric pressure is low, weather is warm and extremely unstable. We are taking care of minor chores and maintenance work. We added another pair of aluminum ladders to the old ones that we had tied together to implement them as improvised bridges over narrow clefts in the ice. Afanasiy seems to have shared the secret skill exclusively to Sergey Isaev and they are now the only two enlightened in possession of the secret Eskimo rope and cable knot code.

We are waiting for Northern winds to improve the ice positioning. We are standing still near a wooden lighthouse tower on U-3 extremity of the Russkiy island. The lighthouse was built in 1961, it is 20 meters tall. and it used electric batteries as well as acetylene to produce light. It was most likely maintained by the staff of the polar station located on the north side of the island. 

Vasily Elagin

Translated from Russian by Ilya Kovalev

Abandoned Polar Station of Russkiy island. MLAE-2011 diaries.

MARCH 24 2011

Whiteout in Kara Sea MLAE-2011

Blizzard persisted for four days. Warm, up to -7 С°, low drifting snow and whiteouts. Strong wind. From Dickson on the Arctic seems to be throwing at us all that its got. Clenching our teeth we push forward looking at GPS and the map on computer screen more than through the windshield and reach island Russkiy. The vehicles and the crew are behaving well. We are on the move 24 hours per day. Night shifts are easier than days as the ridges and terrain is easier to read at night in the light of our projectors, than in the milkish whiteout of the day.

Abandoned polar station on Russkiy island in Kara Sea. MLAE-2011

We come across an abandoned Polar station on the Russkiy island, its windows and doors are taken broken by the bears. Strong Arctic wind creates another polynya that stops our progress to the North. We send greetings to all our meteorologists (Day of a meteorologist in Russia), wish them luck in everything including their witchcraft job. We have a celebration of our won as well: today Afanasy Makovnev, turns 49 and invited us to celebrate with him. All’s well, and our best wishes go out to everyone on the continent.

Afanasy Makovnev is 49 today. MLAE-2011

The expedition is currently on the Russkiy island in Kara Sea and the island is surrounded by a large polynya. The crew is searching for a passage to move further North to the Severnaya Zemlya. Coordinates on 16:00 MSK:N77° 1.847', E95° 32.401'

Translated from Russian by Ilya Kovalev

Hummocking in the Arctic near Dickson. MLAE-2011 Diaries. Russian Arctic Expedition

MARCH 16^th MLAE-2011

We were maintaining heading 0° to Dickson and had 50 km left to go. Our “train” was driven by Vladimir Obihod. As we were crossing Cape Mys Efremov, a stretch of large hummocks and ridges crossed our path. Looking through his binoculars, Obihod saw a large and even field within about one kilometer from the shore and decided to drive on it. To the right he noticed an expanding crack in the ice. He came outside the vehicle and with the sticks of his ice pick checked its thickness. The ice was 25 centimeters thick and wet, but held the vehicle weight well. The crew was asleep. Vladimir woke everyone up and at the same time the crack began rapidly expanding  and new cracks began to appear to in front and to the rear of us. It was the result of ocean tide. We attempted to move West – away from the shoreline we needed to eventually reach. Than we found the narrowest place (45m) to cross back to the east side. We inflated the boat, and got out the Kevlar rope. Sergey Isaev and Vladimir Yanochkin crossed over to the other side in the boat, tightened the rope and set up the crossing. In the mean time our mechanics inspected seal gaskets on the driveshafts. One of the had to be replaced, and while we worked on that, the ice floes came together allowing us to cross over driving. Temperature is at -30°C, it is nice and sunny. By 21:00 hours we reached Dickson arrived in Dickson to the warm welcome of the border guardsmen and old friends – Vladimir Demchuk, Valeriy Savin, Vladimir Krylov.

Coordinates on 21:00 MSK: N73° 30.438', E080° 31.131'.
Vasily Elagin

Translated from Russian by Ilya Kovalev

Russian Atomic Icebreaker ship Taimyr. Yenisey River, town of Karaul, Russian Arctic Explorers MLAE-2011

 

We have covered 1230 km. 120 km left to go until we reach Dickson. The vehicles, trailer and the crew seem to be tugging along smoothly. The breaking in period is over. Expeditions is picking up the pace. On our way down to Yenisey Bay we stop in the old village of Karaul.

Russian Atomic Icebreaker vessel Taimyr on Yenisey River
Vasily Elagin

We meet good people here. Nenets Svetlana and Rostik Vaenga sold us freshly frozen whole deer (a 30kg female). Michael Aliev and his relative Zulfin – both from Azerbaijan presented us with 2 bags of whitefish and three sturgeon heads for fish soup.
Russian diesel operator Dima sold us a barrel of freshly caught sparling (on the shores of Yenisey River they call it “zubatka”)

MLAE-2011, Vasily Elagin and Nuclear Powered Icebreaker Ship "Taimyr"

We exchanged three long siren blasts with a captain of a large atomic icebreaker ship “Tymir” that passed 200 meters away from us in “the opposite lane”. Upon noticing us the captain halted the machines, stopped the vessel and then commanded full steam ahead and the huge machine’s black and frost covered hull side passed above us, crushing the ice underneath it. Huge ice floes behind the vessel were being carried along the canal. The might and power of this atomic reactor powered lunker next to the fragile “Yemelyas” is well captured in the photos and video.

Coordinates: N70° 28.396', E083° 22.409.

Our current position at 08:00 MSK time is:  N70° 28.396', E083° 22.409.


Translation from Russian by Ilya Kovalev

Russian Atomic Icebreaker Taimyr in The Arctic Ocean MLAE-2011 Arctic Expedition

March 14^th

The expedition proceeds along on the ice of Yenisei River. We bought 70 kilos of Sig fish in Karaul village. Karaul – ancient village founded in 1616 as a guard post. A winter hideout for travelers and traders at first, it later becomes home to settlers.  Prominent Arctic explorer – F. Nansen describes Karaul of early 19^th century, in his “Into the country of Future” : “This is an important fish trade hub of the Yenisey River and belongs to a rich merchant from the city of Krasnoyarsk. There is fairly large and substantially build house in it and overall it is a large modern village.” 
Translated from Russian by Ilya Kovalev 

March 10th 2011 Enisey River

Between March 4^th and 9^th the expedition traveled close to a thousand kilometers on the Vankor-Neft’ ice road and reached Dudinka.  The vehicles traveled on the ice road at the speeds of 10-15km/h, covering up to 200 km daily. The ice-road runs over the frozen waters of Enisey River. The Hydro dam in Krasnoyarsk had recently been drained and under the snow of the ice road, we encountered water, which did not, however impede our progress, as the light weight of Yemelyas spread over the large surface area of their soft tires prevented them from sinking through the snow, as the large and heavier Ural trucks, which were stranded waiting for this water to freeze, before they could continue along the ice road. In Dudinka the expedition was greeted by the head of the regional headquarters of “Nornikel”. The good man – Igor Borisovish Uzdin. Both “Yemelyas” were parked in heated garage and the crew – on board of the ice breaker ship “Dudinka”. Today, March 10^th we are repairing one the shafts of the rear axle on “Yemelya-4” and treating two of our young mechanics – Andrei Vankov and Aleksey Zaitcev, both of whom caught cold. For our more experienced adventurers and athletes Vasily Elagin, Vladimir Obihod, Sergey Isaev and Vladimir Yanochkin, the process off acclimatization to the harsh Siberian temperatures seems to have gone over easier. Afanasiy Makovnev is still waiting for our passports with Canadian visas while maintaining correspondence with communications officer for the Canada Border Services Agency - Stephen Hoyt.

Translated from Russian by Ilya Kovalev 

February 27th

Afansiy reports from Moscow: Sunday Feb 27th, a truck has left Gubin Ugol, carrying “Yemelya-3” and “Yemelya-4” vehicles along with six trailers, 36 hundred liter plastic barrels with all our expeditionary gear and food and ten two hundred liter steel drums for the fuel. On March 4th the entire crew (with the exception of myself) has flown to Urengoy, met the transport from Dubna, unloaded the gear and headed off to the planned expedition start point in Novo-Zapolyarniy village of Tazovskiy region, where the ice road named “Vankor-Neft” begins. We were instructed on how to get to the ice road by the experts in Siberian navigation: Igor Smilevec, Vasily Ubozhenko and Oleg Burcev.


Following this road for a thousand kilometers across taiga and the ice of the great Siberian river – Enisey - and in three to four days our Yemelyas will take us to the port city of Dudinka, where we are going to go therough the motions of clearing the customs. After that, our way to the north is wide open, if not unobstructed. From its delta to the port in Dudinka Enisey is navigated by the icebreaker ships. Part of the journey our Yemelyas will travel almost alongside these massive vessels. A great and knowledgeable hunter tracker and historian is expecting us: Vladimir Sergeevich Dozorcev. He is also the head of the Taymirian customs office. Vladimir Sergeevich has mentioned over the phone the museum of the Northern Waterways in Norilsk. We are carrying a photo compilation of our previous MLAE-2009 expedition for the museum as well as our film: “Chronicles of the living ice” about the 2009 auto expedition to the North Pole in “Yemelya-1” and “Yemelya-2” vehicles.

I am hoping to pick up passports of all our crew members in the Canadian consulate in Moscow on March 7th and to catch a flight for Norilsk the same evening to meet the rest of the crew in Dudinka.

Translated from Russian by Ilya Kovalev 

The Crew 2011

VASILY ELAGIN

The organizer and expedition leader of the MLAE-2008, MLAE-2009 and MLAE-2011 expeditions. He is also the engineer, designer and builder of the “Emelya” amphibious vehicles. Geologist, race driver and a participant of Paris-Dakar rally he is a Decorated Master of Sport of the USSR, bears the title of the International Class Master of Sport in alpine climbing, achieved the title of “Snow Leopard”

Traversed Kangchenjunga, ascended Mount Everest, Cho Oyu, Aconcagua, Mount Vinson and has been decorated with the Medal of The Red Labor Flag.

VLADIMIR OBIHOD

Driver-engineer, ice reconnaissance specialist. Holds the title of the International class master of Sport in alpine climbing, has been awarded the title of the “Snow Leopard”, twice. Completed complex vertical wall ascends on Khan Tengri, ascended The Peak of Communism, Annapurna, Lhotse and the Mount Everest. Participated in the MLAE-2008 expedition.

AFANASIY MAKOVNEV

Second in command of the MLAE-2009 and MLAE-2008 expeditions. Photographer and videographer. Mountaineer, speleologist, alpine skier, polar traveler, yachtsman, sea hunter, organizer of ethnographic discovery and adventure journeys in dog sleds and leather built canoes through Chukotka, Kamchatka and Alaska.

ANDREI VAN'KOV

Driver- mechanic. DOB: June 17 1979

ALEKSEY ZAYTCEV

Driver-mechanic. DOB: Nov 10 1983

VLADIMIR YANOCHKINDOB: Oct 30 1951. Alpine Climbing International Level Master of Sport

SERGEY ISAEV

DOB: Apr 03 1957. Alpine Climbing International Level Master of Sport.