Ice skating area next to the mammoth museum in Yakutsk. (Photo taken by Martin Hertel)Before I will start my second blog considering the traveling to Siberia, which can be special, I want to use the opportunity to inform you that our group is also involved into another project called CarboPerm (http://carboperm.de), which focus on carbon in permafrost.

 

It is similar to PAGE21 but is funded not by the EU but as a bilateral project of Russia and Germany. For this project I am also writing a blog, so do not be confused if you find similar information there.

Traveling to Cherskii is always an adventure. Not just the traveling itself but also the preparation beforehand, the trip itself and the spots you can visit in-between.

 

Last year we had some shipping problems with our equipment and had to postpone our trip to Cherskii for approximately one week. But this year everything worked well and the boxes with the equipment were there in time.

Facing the mammoth. (Photo taken by Martin Hertel)Due to a relatively small total amount of equipment we had to ship to Cherskii this year, the preparation before the trip was not too long. But there was one special thing to do: Get some equipment, especially clothing, with is capable to withstand extreme weather conditions and protect us from freezing during field trips with very low temperatures.

 

Luckily the Alfred-Wegener Institute (http://www.awi.de/de/), one of our partners within the project, has a big storage with all kinds of special equipment, where we borrowed a lot of useful things. Thanks for that again, it is very helpful now and I cannot, or better will not, imagine how it would be without these.

During the trip itself we had the chance to visit the city of Yakutsk. The last times when somebody from our team was traveling to Cherskii it was one long but continuously trip, i.e. without the need for stopovers.

 

Impressions from the flight to Cherskii. (Photo taken by Martin Hertel.)This time, we were not able to do this because they changed the flight plans and we had to stay overnight in Yakutsk, but this was a nice opportunity to explore the "coldest-city" as it is often called.

 

Yakutsk is the capital of the Sakha Republic and inhabits nearly 300.000 citizens. If you visit the city it is like to be in two different worlds. There are modern and fancy glass-buildings next to traditional wooden houses.

 

In Yakutsk we walked around the city center, tried traditional pastry and visited the mammoth museum. In total it was a highly interesting day and I can just recommend visiting the city if you have a chance.