Oymyakon – Take off with Natarajan

It may look serene but the temperatures here can be seriously unbearable. Picture: Maarten Takens. Source: Flickr

IT’S been named the coldest permanently inhabited place on Earth reaching a record low of minus 71.2 degrees Celsius in 1924.

The 500 or so residents of Oymyakon in Siberia live in one of the remotest places on Earth, just a few hundred kilometres from the Arctic Circle.

Wired reports that Oymyakon is a town full of extremes. It lies in complete darkness for 21 hours a day during winter yet daylight lasts for 21 hours in summer.

This brings a whole new meaning to camping. Source: Supplied

The nearest major city, Yakutsk, is a two day drive away, accessible only by road during winter when the conditions are too harsh for planes to land.

The ground remains permanently frozen meaning crops cannot grow so its population lives on a diet of reindeer and horse meat, raw frozen fish flesh and a local delicacy of frozen horse blood and macaroni.

Petrol stations in the main road stay open 24 hours a day should you get stuck. Source: Supplied

If you’re brave enough to drive a car, it must be left in idle once out of a heated garage for fear it will freeze and never start again. And trips to the bathroom are just as unpleasant, its residents must use outhouses as the indoor plumbing too often freezes.

It becomes problematic when someone dies. The ground has to be warmed for days by a bonfire to be able to bury the dead. And the town’s only school has a policy to shut if the temperatures fall below -52 degrees Celsius.

Called the ‘Pole of Cold’, the name Oymyakon ironically means ‘unfrozen water’, thought to be a reference to the thermal springs that reindeer herders would visit until it became a permanent inhabited settlement.

For more on this amazing town, visit Wired.

Not your usual type of hotel, don’t expect room service. Source: Supplied

Its animals endure and survive in unimaginable temperatures. Picture: Maarten Takens. Source: Flickr

SOURCE:::: http://www.news.com.au

Natarajan

Jan 14 2015

The Coldest Village on Earth !!!

If you think that the winter where you live is cold, the people in the village of Oymyakon, Russia will have a good chuckle at your expense. Located in the heart of Siberian, Oymyakon is considered to be the coldest inhabitable place in the world. With a temperature record of −90°f (−67°c) back in 1933, and an average of −60°f (−50°c) in January, it’s easy to see why.

When Amos Chappel, a photographer from New-Zealand, travelled to this frozen location, he brought back incredible pictures depicting the daily lives of the 500 inhabitants of this extraordinary village.