Baikal trophy 2013. Full circle on the ice of lake Baikal. Part I

Baikal trophy 2013. Full circle on the ice of lake Baikal

As we gathered
In the present Baikal we met in the summer of 2011. Then, three SUV's, crossing mountain rivers, trudging through rubble, we stormed the legendary "110 Zimnik". Abandoned highway that was to connect the BAM and Transsib. The place is respected by all lovers vnedorozhe. Looking at the Baikal I thought: "what an unusually beautiful in the winter...". Therefore, once the producer of TV channel "Drive" invited me to become a participant of ice travel "Baikal trophy 2013", I'm not thinking agreed. Don't often get the chance to drive around the perimeter of the greatest lakes in the world at the ice mirror. Not just to travel, but also the film shoot. All the most beautiful and interesting merged into one. Sure!
Pronchev in the same breath 1,800 kilometres From Novosibirsk to Irkutsk checked on your Nissan Navara, to join the expedition. In the group of ten SUVs, almost all Japanese: Toyota, Nissan, Mitsubishi. Mansion is the only British Land Rover Defender.

What begins the Great Sea.
Involuntarily squint looking at the dazzling ice of lake Baikal.

With ice we have to deal with the next 10 days. You need to overcome More than 2000 km in order to return to the starting point, in the village of Listvyanka. While I don't want to think that ahead of us there are numerous ice hummocks, gullies, squally wind, storms and snow.
The lake demands respect. Local residents have long known. Hence the tradition: "appease" a sacred place. Here it is called "morganite" to sacrifice to the Burkhan deity of lake Baikal. The movement can't begin just like that: a must-stop to pour a symbolic shot of one of the fingers of the right hand to sprinkle all four sides, sprinkle your leg with the number of their children, the iron horse, and of course the lake itself. All this must be done with clear thoughts, so that nothing bad we have not bothered. This will start now, every day of the expedition.
The first loss we are right at the start: overcoming the "swing" (two wide boards laid across the large icy Toros) one of the "land cruiser" breaks down, falling to the bottom of the icy barrier. A broken driveshaft. The team is 9 SUVs.

Here they are the first unforgettable moments...We're going for a smooth, transparent as glass half-meter ice. "It's a mirror," enthusiastically talking on the radios. The speedometer goes over 80 km/h... that's the pattern with these places will remain forever in my memory.

The ice on the lake can be different: perfect smooth mirror, in which I want to carry without looking back, "broken glass" — broken small pieces of ice frozen together, and this is the most dangerous hummocks. Such a big pond to live their life. Due to the difference of the depths, temperature, bottom topography, currents, seismic waves, the ice breaks up. Often in the same places. The large cracks are called "stenovymi slits", their width can reach several meters and a length of tens of kilometers. The greatest danger is that often everything is covered with snow and not knowing the road it's easy to fall between the ice floes.

One of the first rules of the expedition, safety, immediately sounded by the Commissioner of the expedition Mikhail Bobowski. The rules are simple: the car must always be a heavy subject, no one fastened safety belt (excuse us, the police), because wearing a seat belt can be the last obstacle to freedom. All of this is only need for one case: the machine fell through the ice. In this case, the operation is as follows:
· Kill the engine. The car then can get, but if it would sink with the engine running, the hammer can not be avoided. And it is death to the engine.
· Break the side window with a heavy object;
· Stay calm (the car is sinking not less than minutes) climb to the roof
· Throws clothes on the ice, in the hand a knife (also must be there)
· Jump into the water, clinging with a knife over the edge of the ice climbs.

The expected difficulties
Move along until quite thumb road, but it soon disappears. Getting the passage of the first ridges. Ahead is a leading vehicle, driving the head of the expedition, people are already far not one year traveling about winter Baikal and familiar with all the intricacies of such a drive. "Why are we stopped?" surprised look around the drivers of the second car. Hummocks are sometimes just not visible, they zamorachivat snow. Clearing with plain snow: underneath the water meter.

Go along the Toros need to find a narrow and a travel place. Often travel the place you have to prepare. Crack collapses (in the terminology of the organizers of the "sebutones") shards of ice, placed on top of a wide piece of canvas. Surprisingly, it well binds swaying mass. Here is the passage at speed.
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After the successful passage of "Toyota" forward rushes "Defender". First wheels SUV successfully flying a Taurus and my back begin to fall and he's at full speed of the rear wheels hits an ice floe. Flying with a canvas cover ass Englishman literally throws on a good meter. Nothing happened, but you need to look for another move. Everything here is too vague. For short cracks, there are two wide planks attached to the trunk of one of the forwarding machines.
At work. Shooting is the most important thing for me on this trip.

At sunset, everything looks different.

After a couple of stops at resorts, today most interesting: the Parking lot in the heart of lake Baikal on the ice.

Set the camp in the ice and cut through water-filled plunge pool. The XPS needs to be initiated: swim brand the icy water. Bathing is solved half of the participants, and this is not surprising: the sun in haze, already sits on the horizon, on the street -15. Those who have bathed do not regret it: some point it seems that you all stopped, froze...Powerful burst of adrenaline and life force explodes you from the inside! Today's energy was more than enough until the end of the trip.

"Men! Rise! The tent took" rumbles a voice. Hard atrrival eyes. On the hour the sixth hour of the morning. Night came, the Barguzin, the Baikal wind and swept our household tent. Collect what has been claimed.
Rover over night well covered.

Soon comes the bright, Sunny, sparkling morning.

For dinner we at the friends of fishermen. A week ago, at the request of the head of the expedition they have set the "face", a fishing tackle. Pull the trap out of the water. Before us is literally a huge mountain, flutter burbot. "Stranded we burbot lazily caught..." spinning in my head the words of the famous sayings. Cutlets of cod we eat in a few days.

Oh this ice...Our fear, hope and admiration... Looking at a giant, shimmering in the sun, slightly blue, transparent blocks of ice, piled up on the West coast, I think about beauty. Fascinates and charms the spectacle of the crystal Kingdom.

Charm quickly like when we returned to the cars: suddenly there is a loud Bang. Frantically looking around, "Where? Where to go? Whose car?". "The ice just playing, it's normal" calm, experienced people. No matter how many times it happened, inside I was still grouped ready for emergency evacuation. But treacherously Potresov, ice calmed down and everything is back to normal.

The ice is just fantastically beautiful!

By the way do not forget about the simple rule: never Park cars close to each other on the ice.

On the way to Cape Kotelnikovsky to Severobaikalsk on the road more and more snow. Move slowly. Consumption on petrol cars sometimes exceeds 40 liters per hundred. Open the stock canisters. Automatic transmission on some cars starts to overheat. In Severobaikalsk buy little things from spare parts, refuel and take off today to drive to the tourist center "Khakusy". The road races begin!

First series:

To be continued. Part II