The Russian Winter

The Russian Winter
Asim Deb, 1977 Electronics & Telecommunication Engineering

Title Photo: Frozen Moscow River

Trees, horses and beards were white with frost. The air itself seemed to split apart under the strain of the cold . . . .
“No, Egor Ivanich, be fair,” insisted the Provincial Governor. “Russian winter has its delights. Not long ago, I read that the huge expanse of land and climate, together with the hard struggle for survival, produces many good qualities. Absolutely right!”
“Maybe so, Your Excellency, but life would be better without all that. The bitter weather drove away the French, of course, and there are dozens of delicacies you can freeze. All that’s true and the children and skate too: on a full stomach, layered with proper clothes, the cold’s amusing. But for a working man – people tramping or begging or making pilgrimages – it’s the prime evil and torment. Holy Father, what sorrow, what grief! Men are twice as poor in such cold. Thieves are craftier and robbers fiercer “
— Anton Chekhov

The understanding of Russian life lies through the ordeal of a Russian winter. Russkaya zima, the great depressant of spirit. It is not just a season of the year. It is a life sentence to hardship that prowls near the center of the Russian consciousness, whatever the time of year.

Book your flight for Russia for a trip ideally in December or may be in January or February – to be sure that you will see the REAL snow, a LOTS OF snow, 100% white so that shining brightly, slowly falling and covering everything. The suburbs are particularly beautiful being entirely covered by show untouched and peacefully lying on the trees. At the same time, it is natural and even desirable to “destroy” (of course, after you have been admiring it for a while), because playing snowballs is one of the main activities that Russian people enjoy, as well as building a snowman or making snow angels. So, if every single year you rather dream about it and sing (actually, pray!) ‘Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!’ than see it in reality, you should think of coming in the mentioned months.

Ice is a real wonder that makes Russia one of the best countries where one can feel the real winter. Among the undebatable proofs is the frozen lake Baikal, located in Irkutskaya Oblast. Its frozen surface that thickness may be up to 1.5 meters and is crisscrossed with millions of cracks, which merely looks surreal. Walking, driving, or even skating – pretty much everything is permitted to be done, except anything that may seriously damage this incredible beauty. Natural ice formations that might also be seen there could win all the ice sculpture competitions. The latest, by the way, may be found across the country during the whole season. What a motivation to come to “icy” Russia, mm?

Making ice sculptures or playing snowballs or ice skating are the beginning of the list of incredible winter activities you may get involved in. Skiing may be enjoyed in the mountains, in Sochi or North Caucasus (Dombay, Cheget, and Elbrus). You may try dog sledding, have a traditional troika sleigh, or more exotic reindeer ride. Lovely husky, gorgeous horses and amazing reindeer are the best companions to discover incredible Russian landscapes and parks, and this way of entertainment (which is still used as the transportation means in Siberia and some other regions!) will amuse you and leave the best memories about the wonderful Russian winter.

If you can, consider Russia’s open air musical shows, or the greatest night of the year, and the atmosphere is constantly electric. Natives gather and drink in the city—think happy fun instead of smashed unruliness—as everybody accumulates to hear the president’s live communication at midnight.

The real winter in Russia is not always the same as it is painted in cartoons and fairy tales. It’s different! On Sakhalin, the snow has been lying for six months. In Sochi, the temperature rarely drops below -6 degrees. Foreigners mostly spend the cold season in Moscow or St. Petersburg where the sky is often cloudy, the days are short, and the land looks bleak with dirt snow and wet snow from above. Usually, snow lies only at the end of December and the weather becomes brighter. November and December are the worst months to travel to Moscow!

So how Russians survive when it’s freezing? Easy, the jacket should be waterproof and dense so the icy wind does not reach the body. It should be long and heavy. The fur is a perfect to wear, too! It looks nice and is warm. Under the jacket, you should wear something warm, for example, wool sweater. Now many people use fleece with thermal clothing cause it’s much easier to dry. It’s also very important to choose the right shoes. Russians prefer waterproof boots with several pairs of woolen / fleece socks. Boots should be 2-3 cm larger than your foot to keep the normal blood flow and have a space for the extra pair of socks. People also use a scarf, gloves and a warm hat.

When it’s freezing, only your eyes and cheeks might be open to the wind. You can’t visit theatres and other cultural places in such clothes, so in this case, people take the change clothes for themselves.

Oymyakon, the “Pole of Cold”
“This Russian village will kill you in 60 seconds!” the Oymyakon village in Yakutia is also known as the “Pole of Cold”. This tiny village with a population of 500 people is the coldest places on earth where people live, I mean, have enough nonsense to live.

The length of day in December is only 3 hours. The only local school closes only when the temperature goes below minus 52. Locals keep cars running all day, fearing they won’t start again otherwise. Here, ink freezes in pens, batteries instantly run out, and glasses freeze to your face. And mobile phones do not work in such a cold, although there is a connection.

And, at the last, people say it’s better not to die here: digging a grave can take 3 days because the earth has to be thawed with hot coal.
Bad enough!

A severe breakdown occurred in Klimovsk, a district of the city of Podolsk in Moscow Oblast, just 30 miles from the capital. On January 4, the temperature dropped to -34 Celsius (-29.2 Fahrenheit), being the coldest spell for the area in at least 40 years. On the same day, a Klimovsk heating plant failed. Some 20,000 people were left without heat in the district of 50,000 people. Thousands of them remained cut off from the heating grid for several days. Other cities and towns in the region also experienced multi-day heating failures during the extremely cold weather, with residents of the city of Elektrostal lighting bonfires in front of their apartment buildings as a sign of protest.

Ammunition factory provides this town with heat. Officials were slow to respond. It took Moscow Oblast Governor Andrey Vorobyov three days to put out an official statement on the Klimovsk breakdown, blaming the owners of the “privately-owned boiler room” for allowing the breakdown to happen. Vorobyov said authorities have launched an investigation.

“We understand that everyone’s patience has a limit,” he said during a meeting with the citizens. The issue apparently drew the attention of Russian President Vladimir Putin —he ordered Vorobyov to nationalize the heating facility.
The delayed response could be due to the heating facility’s sensitive location — it is operating within an active ammunition factory. Such arrangements between military industry and civilian infrastructure were relatively common in the Soviet era.

And here you thought winters in Alaska were harsh!

Oymyakon, a remote village in Russia, is the coldest inhabited place on earth which records an average temperature of -58°F (-50°C) every winter. The coldest it has ever been was in 1924 when the mercury plummeted to an unbelievable -96°F (-71°C), making America’s 2019 polar vortex temperatures seem like those of a positively balmy summer in comparison.

How is it even possible for people to survive in this icy land where winter seems to never end, where eyebrows and eyelashes freeze as does the saliva at the edge of your tongue? Photographer Amos Chapple spent a few weeks in the village and recorded the extreme lives and hardships of the villagers there. The pictures, while beautiful, also show exactly why you shouldn’t probably book your next vacation in Oymyakon.

Acknowledgement:
https://www.visitrussia.com
https://traveltriangle.com
https://travelrealrussia.com
https://www.dw.com