Recently, in my city, people were very much disappointed with the schools depriving the kids by not giving enough holidays during the much awaited winter break. If you think that’s a matter of concern, come let me introduce you all to Oymyakon’s solitary school that closes only when the temperature falls below -52°C. Obviously the next rapid fire would be “Am I kidding?”
It’s been a while now since I have been wishing to visit Oymyakon but the thought of living through the extreme conditions makes me shiver. Located in the eastern Yakutsk region in Russia, also known as the ‘Pole of Cold’, Oymyakon valley is the coldest place on Earth! They say the lowest temperature recorded here was -71.2°C with the average being -50°C. Imagine, coldest, I understand but inhabited, that’s the strange part.
Seriously it’s a matter of wonder for me to think how a population of approximately 500 people have been living in a land that has always known only one colour, one season and such tough living conditions. Trust me… the very thought just ran a chill down my spine!
But there are thrill-seekers, who like visiting Oymyakon. Even though the coldest inhabited place on Earth attracts many famous and unusual tourists, there is only one hotel but for sure a lot of winter fun.
The lifestyle of the town is a tourist attraction by itself. The houses are made from wood and the strong insulation is supported with a provision of thermic central working continuously to keep a constant comfortable temperature indoors, helped too with wood combustion equipment. They have an anteroom for the access from the street and to reduce the temperatures contrast, and they don’t have plumbing or piping installation because when the liquids froze, they will burst and this is why the toilet is always outdoors, few metres away and the running water of the houses is within the houses. The cars have double glazing to avoid the cold entering inside, and during winter they have to keep the engines on so the oil don’t froze. They get relaxed playing chess or ping pong, and they have their own culture and traditions.
Some who had been there say that the silence of Oymyakon during one of those icy nights is amazing. Some of them got fun throwing a glass of water up and looking how drops of ice fell instead.
A similar situation happens to the fishing, and it’s useful for a perfect preservation: the fishes, once taken out from the water (obtained through crushing a layer of ice), freeze in just 15 seconds. As a curiosity (a new one), this town competes with the “close” city of Verjoyank (located around 300 kilometres away) by the recognition of being “the Pole of Cold” in the world. In Oymyakon they preserve a commemorative monument for that important date in 1926 and they are proud of it, a shine of personality for a population that had known how to adapt themselves to the most extreme weather on the Earth and able to carry a normal life on.
To get there, you can take a flight from Moscow to Yakutsk and follow it with a two-day drive and an overnight stay in Tyoply Kluch. And once you’re here, almost everything will surprise you.
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