Yakutia – The coldest city in Russia
In Yakutia, where food freezes within seconds when left outdoors, locals continue their daily lives unfazed, even taking ice baths in frozen lakes. Yakutia, with its capital Yakutsk, is a region in Siberia famous for being the coldest inhabited place on Earth. Here, wet clothes freeze in seconds and food becomes rock hard even in the sun. Temperatures can drop to -59°C, but locals say the weather is still “warm,” allowing them to maintain their daily lives.
In one photo, Galina Davydova, a teacher in Yakutia, is seen carrying out her frozen clothes. In the village of Churapcha, an elderly man was swimming in an ice hole carved through the thick frozen surface. Despite the extreme cold, some Siberians still regularly swim and dip in the icy water because they believe this exercise will help improve their health.
Frigid temperatures, often dozens of degrees below minus, are the ideal time to create “snow fireworks” by throwing hot water into the air, which instantly turns into tiny ice crystals before evaporating. Lorenzo Barone, a 22-year-old tourist from Italy, braved Yakutia’s harsh conditions, completely covered in snow and ice. According to Siberia Times, the cold is so harsh that eyelashes can freeze and glasses can stick to the face if not properly protected.
At -59°C, fish sellers do not need to refrigerate their products and the market remains open despite the harsh winter. However, preschools and elementary schools will let students cancel school due to the cold weather, while middle school students will continue to study as usual. Some women even went for a walk in the snow at Lena Pillars.
Members of the “Cold Conquerors” tour, an expedition group that explores the coldest, most remote places on Earth, found themselves covered in frost and snow during a visit to Yakutia. The landscape of the area is marked by large bushes and trees covered in snow, creating a beautiful icy scene.
People on the streets look like moving cloths, covered from head to toe, only their eyes are exposed, but ice and snow are also white on their eyelids. If a finger accidentally sticks out, the pain is unbearable.
Anyone new to Yakutsk is easily curious about the water pipes covered with glass wool (a type of insulation material made from synthetic fiberglass) and covered with a layer of protective packaging that keeps crawling all the way down. main streets and alleys of the city. Where the pipes connect, sharp icicles extend down to a meter. Those are the points that create a brand for Yakutsk, even though they are not beautiful. In addition to the name “ice city”, Yakutsk also has another name “exposed city”.
The pipes in the city are all placed on the ground, feeling like “the intestines are pulled out of the body”. “Exposing the intestines” destroys the aesthetics of the urban landscape, but in Yakutsk, it is difficult to do anything about it. because the city is located in the permafrost zone. Frozen soil is extremely hard, not only difficult to dig, but also easy to damage underground pipes. Even in summer, when the upper layer of the soil thaws, the underground temperature remains -80C. Therefore, urban pipes, including water pipes, are placed on the ground in a suspended state.
But in return, the land under Yakutsk has many minerals, including diamonds, coal and natural gas. However, if you ask local people, they will answer that mining is not a stable job, because one day, minerals will run out. If you participate in the construction industry in Yakutsk, there will always be work to do, because the construction period here is “unbelievably long”.
